Always Got Your Back
by CharlesWatch220
Summary: Failure is the mother of success. That is, until a failure resulting in an explosion very nearly costs Izuku Midoriya, who despite injuries, struggles to save a slightly unhinged but nevertheless bright and quirky gadgeteer genius from her guilt and newfound darkness in her heart...Because he wants to, he wants her to smile again. It's what heroes do.
1. Crossing The Line

What's up readers, writers, viewers/visitors and others, it's CharlesWatch220 and I'm here with another shipping fic. This time it's an Izuku x Mei coupling. Taking the advice of a review that was dropped on my last fic Jack and Her Green Muse, I will not be deviating from the ship because I'm trying my hand at an honest and innocent cinnamon roll and not a SINnamon roll, if you get what I mean.

As Mei would put it, this is baby #02 of the shipping fic family of BNHA.

I own nothing except this here fic.

* * *

"Hmmmf….." Mei Hatsume grumbled as she tossed a faulty piece of wiring in a box of scraps after detaching it from her modified jetpack. While the countermeasures against high voltage attacks like the one she suffered during the UA Sports Festival had been resolved, there was still something to be desired in terms of its weight. Although in her case the hover soles more or less took care of this problem, but both of them are tied down by a single problem: finite amounts of fuel or at least an energy source of some kind. Since the perpetual motion machine that would supply infinite amounts of energy without a fuel source has been proved that it thoroughly violates the rules of thermodynamics, she is forced to focus on other areas for improvement.

"Guess I'll work on that when something comes." After all, ingenuity does not work like a faucet all the time. Every now and then it's like a landmine. You just never know when you'll stumble upon one. Setting the jetpack and its parts aside, she moved onto another one of her inventions: the capture gun.

"Now, let's see….for you….." Mei unfolded several pieces of paper that were stapled together and taped to the capture gun. They were several concept arts as well as some schematics as to how they could be improved, all of them drawn up and designed by none other than Izuku Midoriya. "Decisions, decisions."

There were several combinations of improvements mashed into each other. The first one focused on reliability, speed and durability while another focused on range, greater capacity in ammunition and stronger material for the capture nets. Each one looked more interesting than the last, and there were about half a dozen to choose from. And while Izuku was a student in the Heroics Department, he did seem to have some amount of knowledge about tinkering himself. Though it was still elementary in the eyes of anyone in the Support Department, it was more than enough to impress her. The illustrated diagrams were not only artistic but easy to understand and gave her a basic idea of what to try out for certain parts.

The green-haired shy boy was a kind of genius in his own right, though he refuses to admit that while thanking others profusely should they ever do anything for him in the same breath. She could still remember him swinging his head back and forth, thanking him for the amazing upgrades to his footwear to complement his fighting style. While most certainly a comical sight to behold, Mei could smell the genuineness of his wholehearted gratitude off him, making him a kind of unofficial favorite of hers. Plus, when someone volunteers to test out your own inventions when they don't know what could happen to them, it was kind of a big deal to anyone who even dabbles in tinkering.

Hours ticked by as she tinkered the night away until the light of day slowly crept up through the horizon. Packing up the gadgets she decided to bring home to tinker with for the day, Mei skipped across the hall to grab some fruit, milk, a protein bar, hit the showers and get ready for another exciting day of modifying babies at the studio as well as giving birth to more brainchildren.

* * *

Izuku Midoriya sighed as he stared hard at a notebook that he titled _Support Items For The Future #1_ on his way to class in black marker after his routine run with breakfast in tow: some cold cut turkey, chives and cream cheese sandwiched in a whole wheat bagel. It was rather early with plenty of time before home room began with Aizawa merely being two steps behind the door making every one of his colleagues in class 1-A shut up and sit up straight at attention.

But that was exactly what he needed right now.

A recently met friend of his by the name of Melissa Shield had designed a gauntlets for him dubbed the Full Gauntlets in honor of his Full Cowling were no more, destroyed in the battle of I-Island against Wolfram. While Shoot Style had pulled Izuku out of the spiral of trying to _become_ All Might rather than becoming a hero _like_ him, there still was a tendency to use his hands in combat every so often instead of his feet.

After all, he wasn't like that retired peg-leg Chef Hero who could blow out fires with a single kick like candles, or his chivalrous yet slightly lecherous protégé who insisted on fighting with nothing but kick moves and _actually wins_.

As such, he was drafting ideas of viable support items to use that would replace the Full Gauntlets, at least temporarily (hopefully) that would allow him to use his arms as well as his legs. Izuku did have Melissa's contact information, but didn't want to bother her on account of this year being her final year at the I-Island Academy and he didn't want to hinder her from finishing strong.

That wasn't the only problem he had though. Another major problem in the forefront is the utter lack of any sort of formal training in martial arts unlike the tailed Mashirao Ojiro or the recently initiated and "awakened" practitioner of Gunhead Martial Arts, Ochako Uraraka. As such, his attacks aside from the long range Delaware Smash were all easy to deal with because he telegraphs it with overtly large windups. He had been watching videos of Pro Heroes like Gunhead to see what he can adopt and adapt into his style, and he practiced whatever he could manage without a sparring partner, but it wasn't enough. He had to address that as soon as possible too.

While it technically is his own fault, Izuku was on his own. Obviously UA had amazing facilities, but in terms of developing support items and gadgets, it was a far cry from the resources that I-Island had to offer as far as he could see. "Kevlar panels…..triweave titanium fiber? Mmmm…..ugh…this is annoying. Oh, wait….kinetic dampening gel, maybe?" Being so absorbed in his thoughts, he very nearly rammed into someone as he turned a corner. "Crap…I'm so sorry, I was….Hatsume?"

"Oh, hey Midoriya! Whatcha doin' here so early?"

"Just some thinking. A-are you….are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course! Oh by the way, those designs for improving my babies were absolutely mega-cute! I _totally_ loved them!"

"Okaythanks….." Izuku squeaked with a red face as he suddenly found the immaculate linoleum floor and his reflection in it far more interesting than the pink-haired girl who absolutely insisted on violating his personal space, her face barely five inches from his own.

"Is this…..something you're thinking of needing?"

"Huh?" Izuku realized that she had picked up his notebook, looking at the very page that he was on. "Oh, no, wai-tho-those um…tho-those are uh, just….ideas."

"Super _awesome_ ideas!" Mei exclaimed as her usually wide smile widened even more along with her eyes that were shining like the sun at the diagrams and scribbles on the pages. "What the heck are these? Gauntlets? Shields? Something in between? And these margin notes! Para-aramid fibers, titanium dipped tri-weave fiber mesh, nano-engineered polymer plating, and….magnetorheological fluid?! Holy chub mackerel in the deep blue sea, you've done some serious research! This is what people in _my_ department study for, when'd you even _learn_ this sorta lingo?" Mei pressed on and on, literally backing Izuku into a wall as he looked ready to pass out from absolutely _not_ breathing at all. "Too close….."

"But anyways! Glad I ran into you so early, I need you to drop by the design studio after classes, 'kay? Okay, byyyeeeee my babies need meeeee!"

"Wai-I….Oh, great…there go my plans for after school." Finally remembering to breathe, Izuku heaved a sigh and took a bite out of the thoroughly crushed bagel sandwich, munching on it at his desk and continued to scribble and mumble the minutes away, wracking his brain before his compatriots trickled in.

But it didn't seem like a bad idea to flex his brain muscles instead of his calves and quads in the school weight room for leg day. Besides, two heads were always better than one when it came to innovation, especially if one head was a little crazy. Although his hopes were most likely futile, Izuku prayed that Mei would dial the craziness back at least a little, ten percent at the most.

"Deku, you had your face all scrunched up a lot for most of the day. You alright?" Uraraka asked, concerned at her friend clearly in distress.

"Yeah, I'm….I-I'm okay. I'm okay. It's just uh…..Quirk and costume-related stuff."

"Why, what's the matter? You don't seem like you broke anything this time around…."

"Well, focusing on using kicks, throws and whatever else more than hand strikes is my main focus to avoid further damage to my arms, but I know there's going to be a time when I _have_ to use them because they're faster and more versatile than kicks."

"Uh-huh." Uraraka nodded in agreement at her friend's logic.

"But…..you remember what happened at I-Island, right? I had Melissa's gadget, the Full Gauntlet that let me go full power several times without risk before it broke. I need…..well, a replacement. A-a-although that's kinda asking for the impossible, but I need something, however temporary that may be. Just until I can be more flexible with kicks and footwork like Iida and Ojiro. And you, o-of-of course."

"Wha, I'm uh….I'm…." Uraraka blushed at the mention of this praise, but she shook her head furiously, her brown locks swinging from side to side, her Kansai dialect slipping out slightly. "No, I'm…I'm still a-a novice! Ya kiddin' me?"

"Riiight….a novice KO-ing Kirishima in a practice bout….riiiight." Izuku distinctly remembered his friend humbling Red Riot by taking away his gravitational force and hitting him with the full force of a well-executed hip throw and joint lock.

"You two. Unless you got business with me, clear out the classroom." A sullen voice issued from a large yellow caterpillar with the face of a tired man with unkempt black hair near the blackboard. It was Shouta Aizawa, aka Eraserhead, their ever-pragmatic and logic-driven homeroom teacher. The bags under his eyes looked larger and his face sunken a little more than usual, making his glare that much more menacing.

"R-right! Sorry sir!" Grabbing their bags, the two exited the classroom post haste to let Aizawa take his nap in whatever little precious time he had.

"So, did you have any plans after this? And I mean aside from physical conditioning."

"Not really….oh, wait. Sorry I lied. Yes, I-I actually….do. It was rather sudden, but something did come up. J-j-just this morning…."

"Really?" Uraraka sounded crestfallen. "I wanted to ask your opinion on a couple of things about what we went over in class, but….."

"I'll answer any question you have, whatever it is, but after I get back to the dorms."

"Promise?"

"Promise!"

"Fine," Uraraka pouted, but held up her pinky as she acquiesced. "Pinky swear then. Your word is your bond, and if you don't keep it, I'll fling ya inta the stratosphere!"

"Please don't…that's actually genuinely frightening." Izuku held his pinky out as well, tentatively curling it around his brunette friend's and rapidly warming both of their cheeks.

"Alright, see you soon!" Uraraka ran off in a hurry, almost tripping over air.

"Yeah….see you….." Silently praying that he would make it back to the dorms in one piece, Izuku slowly made his way to the design studio, a doorway made of reinforced industrial steel in the name of safety. Taking a couple of deep breaths to steady himself, he put a hand on the door handle, turned it, and opened the heavy door.

And he was greeted face first with multiple searing surges of pain shooting across his face, followed almost immediately by an explosion that blasted him off his feet into the wall behind him.

* * *

Izuku came to on a bed with fresh sheets that smelled like disinfectant, looking up at a very familiar ceiling of the infirmary, but his left eye was covered with something along with his cheek. As he pulled the covers off, he winced at the throbbing pain. His left ear was giving off an annoying hum like he had tinnitus.

A hand threw the curtains back, revealing the skinny and short Higari Majima, aka Power Loader, a faculty of UA High School in charge of the Support Department wearing his signature helmet that resembled a mechanical dinosaur. A very guilty and sunken expression could be seen on the pale face of a student on his right, a certain someone with pink hair, gripping her pants turning her knuckles sheet-white.

"Oh…..what uh….what happened, Mr. Power Loader?"

"Another one of Hatsume's display of fireworks up close and personal, except it sent parts flying everywhere, including into your face. But thank heavens you're awake. Recovery Girl's out doing her rounds at hospitals today so I patched you up as much as I can. I don't know heart surgery, but I know how to do sutures. You alright?"

Izuku nodded, wincing every time his muscles moved to utter words. "For the most part. My left ear is ringing like crazy though. I…I don't have tinnitus or anything like that, do I? And…..do I still have both my eyes?"

"No, you don't have tinnitus. That hum in the drum's temporary. And yes, you have both eyes in pristine condition. I just have gauze on top because you had a cut above your eye. It's skin deep and stopped by now so you can go ahead and take it off at your convenience. Consider yourself lucky though. If that cog and shards of carbon fiber had hit your face another half an inch higher, your left eye would be….permanently useless. You also have a slight concussion from what I gathered and some bruising on your back, but nothing serious. You can wait until Recovery Girl comes back so she can actually fix you up without leaving any possibility for facial scars."

"It's….it's fine, I'm used to getting scars. At least it wasn't my arms. Am I….allowed to go if I want to?"

"Yeah, but….if that's the case, I'm going to have to insist that this idiot go with you just to be safe, since you do have a concussion and I don't wanna take the chance." Power Loader jerked a thumb over to Mei, who winced like she got jabbed with a thick needle.

"Um, that's….that's really not necessary――"

"I beg to differ," Power Loader cut him off with a cold growl. His dull blue eyes behind the helmet flared up in anger. "I've let the explosions and her antics in the studio slide because nobody else except her and me get caught in it. She screws up, she owns up to it and cleans up, so I may chew her out and reprimand her, but nothing more than that. Even if others are caught in it, the damage is minimal, fixable with a band-aid. Not so in this case. You could have lost a _freaking_ _eye!_ It's as bad as losing a limb, if you ask me, so she needs to own up to that. You may forgive her Midoriya, and you're free to do so, but I'm not _that_ forgiving of mishaps, particularly ones like _this_. Hatsume, starting tomorrow, you're banned from the studio for a month. If you so much as lay a _finger_ on the door, I'll add on another month, do you understand me?"

"Yes sir….." Mei whispered, unable to meet either one of their gazes.

"Make sure Midoriya gets back to the dorms safely. It's the least you can do right now." Handing Izuku antibiotic ointments as well as Vaseline, Power Loader shooed the two out so he can get his own work done.

"Well…that ended with a bang didn't it?" Izuku joked in order to alleviate the long sullen silence that enveloped Mei like a dark storm cloud, but mentally kicked himself for the poor taste in the joke. "Sorry, that was….that was in bad taste. I'm sorry. But really, don't feel too bad about it. Accidents happen." Plus, this wasn't the first explosion she'd caused that he's been caught in and it undoubtedly will not be the last.

"Not like this. I almost….That explosion could've taken your eye out. I could have _killed_ you! There's…..there's nothing more to say." Mei trembled. The mere thought that she'd never entertained graphically materializing in her mind. The explosion, Izuku lying in a puddle of his own blood that was spreading fast as he clutched at his eye, screaming in pain. Her chest felt constricted, her breathing lapsed and short.

"Hey, Hatsume? Hatsume, deep breaths. Take a _deep_ breath." Just as much as she wanted to get the image of the worst case scenario out of his head, Izuku wanted to avoid the worst case scenario of having to carry an unconscious Mei back to _her_ dorm when _she_ was supposed to be escorting _him._ God knows what a truly irate Power Loader would look like, and Izuku was not in any hurry to find out any time soon. "In for three, out for three. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Follow my count."

"Um….th-thanks, Midoriya…..I…..let's g-go now….." They walked in silence, with Izuku about three paces ahead of Mei as she kept her head down, staring at the road and her feet as they walked.

"What exactly caused the explosion?"

"I….I don't know. I was working on my electro shoes to make them lighter and more energy efficient and…."

"Ah, those. Electromagnetic induction allows you to clear buildings, right?"

"Yeah…."

"Did you perhaps invert the emitter matrix of the electromagnets? That usually would cause――"

Mei's eyes flew open, smacking herself in the forehead. "――the power grid to backfire and…..shit." Mei swore. It was an amateur mistake. _Amateur_. Only an idiot would make that kind of mistake and fail to notice. An idiot…..that hadn't had decent amounts of sleep for the last month or so due to the fervor of inventing overtaking and overriding such needs. "Midoriya, I'm so sorry….I never meant to hurt you. Or anyone else. I just…..it…."

As someone who had inherited One For All, as well as the will and spirit of his permanently retired predecessor and teacher to save people, it hurt Izuku to see Mei cry. He had to save people not only from criminals, accidents and other disasters but from the darkness within themselves, keep it at bay before it swallowed them whole. Just like All Might did for him. Hearing her voice break, he dug a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it out for her. "Like I told Mr. Power Loader, I-I forgive you. It's not like you were _trying_ to kill me, which I'm a hundred percent confident in that regard. Plus, I know the feeling. I've come close to…..losing people around me because I didn't have my head on straight. I wasn't thinking….not clearly as I thought I was, at least. So trust me when I say that I understand what you're going through."

"Do you though? Really?" Mei accepted the handkerchief and sobbed into it, her yellow eyes with crosshairs in the irises now red and puffy.

"Well….maybe not entirely because I'm not in the Support Course. I've only ever used a screwdriver to change the batteries in my alarm clock and stuff like that at the most, but that's beside the point. The point is….I know guilt. More than you could ever imagine."

―― _You're….next._

Two simple words but with the effect of a million United States of SMASH combined into one, still freshly ringing in his ears. His muscle form more or less undone, body with no stomach and half a respiratory system shattered further beyond repair, yet refusing to take a knee. His raised fist that brought All For One to his knees said it all: have no fear, for I am here. Justice shall prevail.

A message to citizens, aspiring heroes, villains, and to his successor. The ninth holder of One For All. To Izuku. While it was All Might and his choice to pass on and accept his Quirk as his own, it still did not change the fact that it was his fault. He had ultimately brought about the end of the Symbol of Peace. "All of the…..the wouldas, couldas, and shouldas after you make the decision or mistake just…slowly crushing the air out of your lungs and making you back down from….everything. It makes you scared, and you get frustrated by the very fact you're scared. And it….it sucks, it really does. Even if others say they forgive you, that they won't hold it against you for doing what you did, forgiving yourself. So I'll say it as many times as you want: I forgive you."

They walked slowly in silence again, and Izuku smiled and waved to Mei goodbye as he made his way back inside the dormitory.

* * *

Dodging the storm of questions for having stitches on his face was easy for Izuku, waving it off as a vague accident at the studio where he had some business to attend to. While most of them didn't press for details, Iida, Uraraka and Todoroki weren't letting it slide.

"Just to be sure," Todoroki said with a clenched fist, light flames dancing across his left half of his face, "it wasn't an explosion caused by Bakugou or shrapnel from something he blew up?"

"No. It wasn't Kacchan. Lucky it wasn't my hand, so your curse of the hand-crusher is invalid. Like I said before, what happened was just an accident――"

"――That nearly cost you your _eye!_ " Uraraka shouted as he looked at the bandages applied on his face. "Do you have any idea how serious this is?!"

"Uraraka is right, Midoriya!" Iida nodded, the anger clear in his behind his glasses, "the velocity of debris pieces vary on its size and strength of the blast, but had whatever cut your face hit your eye, it could have pierced your _brain! You could have died!_ Intentional or not, that's more than enough grounds for at _least_ a suspension!"

"NO! No, don't….don't do that Iida. Okay? Please? I've….I'm going to work this out. I appreciate that all of you are concerned for me. I really am. But j-just…..just let me do this, okay? Let me, Mr. Power Loader and Hatsume talk this out since we're the ones that were actually there and know what happened."

"…..Fine," Todoroki relented as his voice softened, the flames dissipating as his fist loosened. "But let me know if you need me for…whatever."

"I will, thanks. Iida, I know that you and Hatsume aren't exactly on the best of terms…..but _please_ don't do anything that'll further compromise her position. She's….distraught, and pushing her into a corner won't do anyone any good."

"…I see your point," Iida admitted after a long pause though he made no attempt to hide the fact he was not liking it. "And I will do no such thing, not without consulting you first. Upon my honor as class representative. You have my word."

"Thank you."

"You sure you're okay? Sometimes I think you have the luck of the Devil himself on your side, but this…..this is too close a call."

"Yes, I'm sure and I'm not disagreeing with that assessment. I'm not sure if you're on friendly or unfriendly terms with Hatsume, but please don't think any less of her because I got hurt. She's the reason I can actually use Shoot Style effectively in the first place. Besides, Mr. Power Loader banned her from the Design Studio for the next month, so there won't be anything like this happening any time soon."

"Well….that's good, I guess….."

"Yeah…." He already had enough explosions to deal with as it is, thanks to a certain spiky blonde haired childhood friend with an ego that made the gigantic Mt. Lady seem like an ant. "So….what did you want my opinion about?"

* * *

Classes are starting up again so my update speed may drop compared to my first shipping fic, but here goes nothing. If you haven't read Jack and Her Green Muse yet, please check it out.


	2. Soul-Healing With Shakes

Well, this story's already been added to a collection after chapter one and the number of followers are very close to the number of favorites. Once again, thank you all for your support, here's chapter two. My plan is to make this ship roughly about the same length as Green Muse, but I'll try to milk the moment before they actually confess to each other.

Also, just to dispel the confusion of someone that reviewed: there will be fluff as well as smut, just not threesomes.

I own nothing but this here fic.

* * *

Izuku's phone rang as he was about to head downstairs to the common room for breakfast. The caller was someone with an unfamiliar number. "Hello?"

"Morning Midoriya, it's Power Loader."

"Oh, um…good morning sir. Is….something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing's wrong. Not with me. But Hatsume's a little….screw it _very_ ….distraught. I sent her over to Hound Dog for a session of counselling. According to what he could pick up…she has….."

"PTSD? Trauma of some sort?"

"Yeah. The accident only happened once so it's not severe from what he could gather, but it was enough to rattle her mind significantly."

Izuku figured as much. Although he didn't really know Mei personally, he knew that failure was not something that deterred or made her shirk from challenging herself in the slightest. If the accident had affected that very foundation of who she is, it was nothing but bad news. "How can I help?"

"Well that's part of the reason I'm calling you. As far as I can tell, you have the closest connection with her among the first year constituents at UA. I know that you're the victim and you have every reason to say no, but…can you help her?"

"Yes. And I do have an idea of what to do. It won't involve you or the studio. That much I can promise. That is, until the ban gets lifted."

"Would you mind sharing at all?"

"It's…..kind of a loophole abuse. Well, no-not really an abuse _per se_ , but….kinda sorta bending the rules? B-but it's all within the legal boundaries, so you don't have to worry about that."

"I better not," Power Loader chuckled. "So what exactly did you have planned?"

"Designing via visual arts and concepts."

* * *

About a week had passed since the accident that nearly took Izuku's left eye. Just as Power Loader had instructed, Mei steered clear of the Design Studio unless it was for a class. She still attended classes and continued getting assignments done, generally fulfilling the obligations of a student. However, her trademark steampunk goggles on her head were gone. Her usual bubbly, almost disconcerting level of cheerfulness was all but extinguished which was _far_ more off-putting than her me-me-me attitude.

Twice she walked past the door of the Design Studio, giving the sign a good long gander before scurrying away like a monster laid in wait, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

She could still see it in her dreams. The smoke clearing, seeing familiar red sneakers, and something…..redder, with a darker hue as it dribbled down the left half of someone's face, down their eyebrow, freckled cheeks, staining the crisp white shirt and gray school blazer, spreading quickly as he just slumped to the floor against the wall.

 _――_ _You did this to him. You did this to Izuku Midoriya_. Your inventions. Your babies. Your carelessness. You.

Even after it had been cleaned up, Mei could still see him in that precise spot, bleeding all over himself and the floor as Power Loader quickly whisked him away to the infirmary while she just sat there, dumbfounded, her very vision warping like _she_ had a concussion, the sounds diluted and accompanied by the high-pitched ringing. She clenched her fingers to stop herself from trembling but it was no use.

 _――_ _You caused him pain. Your failure cost him blood. Or something more, had things turned from bad to worse._

A cold, wispy hand closed itself around Mei's throat and heart. The hand of fear itself, relishing its new prey. One that had always bested it, charging forward with reckless abandon, always out of reach. That is, until now.

Her breathing patterns going erratic once again, breaking out in cold sweat, the world spinning as her legs grew weak. She stumbled, catching herself against the wall, once, the windowsill twice, then thrice, until she finally fell. Visions ran through Mei's mind, watching herself invert the electromagnet's emitter matrix, tightening the external nuts and bolts.

No. Stop. Stop. Don't turn it on. Don't turn it on. Please, don't――

The studio door opened. Everything went white. " _NOOO!_ "

"Oww…."

Mei was panting hard like she'd sprinted the perimeter of the entire city as she looked around. She was sitting upright in the infirmary. Again. Jumping out of the bed, she frantically began pulling the curtains away from the other beds, searching for him. "Midoriya? Midoriya, where are you…Midoriya?"

"Um….I'm-I'm right here?" A strained voice sucking the air in sharply answered. Mei turned to see Izuku rubbing his head as he stood up, in the middle of repositioning the stool next to the bed which was on its side as he rubbed his head. "I heard from Mr. Power Loader that you….passed out in front of the studio." In almost exactly the same spot he lay unconscious a week ago, no less.

Mei rushed up to him, grabbed his shoulders and studied his face, her eyes zooming in to make sure that the healed wounds didn't suddenly reopen again spraying blood everywhere. There were no scars, but she just had to be sure, going to her full capacity of five kilometers. "You're…..you're o-okay? You're not….?" Her hands frantically patted him across his body, making sure that this was not a hallucination.

"No. I'm okay. There's nothing wrong with me. No accident, no blood, no wounds, no stitches, no scars. It's okay."

"I….you….but the explosion-"

"Happened six days ago." The worst thing he could tell her in this situation was to calm down. "Breathe for me, like you did then. In…two….three…..Hold….two….three…..Out…two….three."

Mei repeated the slow breathing several more times and sat down on the bed. Pouring some water into a paper cup, from a pitcher, Izuku held it out to her which she accepted and swallowed in five seconds flat. "I….Midoriya….I'm so sorry, I just…..it won't g-go….away. It-it-I…I can't…..I can't _make anything!_ What am I gonna do? If I can't make my babies I….my babies won't…"

"Hatsume, Hatsume, breathe slowly, okay? Slowly. You have two more weeks and change before the ban gets lifted. _But_ …..I may have….an alternative solution. It may not be as good as actually making your babies but…..it's the next best thing."

"What?" Izuku pulled three notebooks out. _Support Items For The Future_ numbers one through three. Taking one in her hand, Mei flipped through a couple of pages. Each of them were improved costume designs for his classmates of 1-A as well as for some of the teachers. Another one was an arsenal of items that would act as potential countermeasures against known villains both active and affiliated with the League and not, including those already imprisoned in Tartarus like Mad-Blood Muscular and a handful of others from the USJ incident. "Are these….all…..did you come up with _all_ of these?"

"Yeah. I did. Mr. Power Loader said you couldn't make your babies in the studio, but he didn't say anything about coming up with ideas and drawing plans out for them. That can be done literally anywhere. All I can do is come up with designs. As for the actual mechanisms…I have no idea what the heck I'm doing most of the time. So I want your opinion with materials, the apparatus, other problems that could be addressed in future versions, and how to properly fashion them into functional prototypes. All of that is something that I know you can do."

"Why are you so eager to help me? I'm a….an attempted――"

"Do _not_. Finish. That sentence." Izuku frowned. "You are _not_. Okay? You are nothing of the sort. Of the two of us, I'm the one that was on the receiving end of that explosion so I get to say whether I felt….intent, which by the way, there was none. At all. So please…..please don't finish that sentence." Izuku drew his sleeve across his watery eyes. He had never seen Mei this distraught, this vulnerable, and so…..broken.

"I want to help you, so then you can help me help you, if that makes sense…..or was it the other way round? I can help you help me…no, that….you know what? Never mind."

Mei chuckled at the one-man Abbott & Costello show that Izuku was putting on as she looked down at the pages. The faded lines of graphite and smears from the erasers were enough to indicate that these were not slipshod ideas. Every time pen and paper make contact under his will, it had purpose.

"So? What do you think? Can you lend me your…..professional opinion on making babies…..wait, no! Crap, that came out _so_ wrong. I meant _your_ …no, no. Wait, wait, back up, no."

She couldn't hold it in anymore. Clutching her stomach and falling back onto the mattress, Mei broke out in peals of laughter, writhing as the pain in her stomach became too much to bear as her favorite green-haired hero nerd turned red down to his freckles and continued to trip over his words in an effort to rephrase his request without making it sound like an innuendo. "I guess….giving it a try wouldn't hurt I suppose…"

"Great. Let's do this somewhere that's not on the UA campus. Just to….you know, relieve the….the pressure. Yeah." Izuku nodded to himself, checking that he was choosing his words widely.

"Did you have somewhere in mind?"

"Umm…no…..sorry, I….I-I didn't really….think this through enough." And _he_ was the one that's supposed to be helping him. Izuku felt like an utter fool for his lack of foresight and planning.

"I know a place. I'll Uber us there."

* * *

"…A diner." Izuku said. It wasn't a question. In neon red cursive letters that flickered every now and then was the sign of the diner _The Dodge_ , a somewhat seedy looking establishment with a black and white checker pattern floor, counter seats, swiveling chairs and other such retro interior designs reminiscent of the fifties in Burbank.

"Yeah, why?"

"I-I…I-I just….I don't know." Come to think of it, aside from the fact that she was in the Support Course, had a Quirk that let her see kilometers away was opportunistic, assertive and undoubtedly one of the brightest albeit slightly unhinged minds at UA among her peers, Izuku realized he knew next to nothing about her. "Just….I really wasn't sure what to expect, to be honest. Especially from you. I'm a little…..underwhelmed, I guess?"

"Where'd ya think I was gonna take you?"

"Not a diner, that's for sure. A garage that fixes motor vehicles, heavy machinery and deals in support item parts on the side, maybe. Or a subsidiary branch of a company that you can come in and out of? A storage unit, one of many that your family owns?"

"…..Funny thing is, I know all those places, and my family actually _does_ own half a dozen storage units. How did you know that?"

"I-Wait, seriously? That was just…..I was just spouting nonsense!"

"Well, it isn't. Come on, let's go in." Pushing the door open, the bell dinged, signaling their entrance. A large, barrel-chested bear of a man who Izuku assumed was the proprietor wearing a greasy apron stood behind the counter wiping down a coffee mug gave Mei a silent wave while wearily eyeing him.

They were ushered to the counter seat in the corner away from the booths. "I'll have my usual and…..what are you having, Midoriya?"

"Ummm…..The maccha green tea milkshake then, please." While Izuku wasn't particularly partial to sweets, he figured he'd need as much energy as he can get from wherever he can get it to match Mei's usual enthusiasm. "So….which one do you wanna start with?"

"You…..you want me to pick?" Mei furrowed her brows. "No. No, no…you…no, don't let me pick. Please….just…not yet, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Sorry. I don't mean to rush you. Just let me know if you want to stop this at any point or…..anything else."

"Okay….." Mei focused on keeping her breathing steady as Izuku began flipping through the pages of his notebooks.

"Mmmm…..what about….." Izuku pondered as he searched through the archives of his brain, through everything pertaining to support items. Something simple, relatively easy. Without too much wiring, circuit boards, or god forbid an emitter matrix. "This."

"Eraserhead's goggles, version 2.2?"

"Mm-hmm. In the USJ attack, his goggles had two basic functions: keeping his eyes out of harm's way from physical attacks and hiding where he was looking but nothing else. The Noumu….shattered it when he mashed his face into the ground." The scar under his eye left him with even bigger intervals and a shorter span before he blinked. Even then he struggled to fight, saving Asui from Shigaraki's destructive touch. "I figured adding on some more gimmicks and bulking up on durability would help him in the future."

Mei pulled the notes closer to herself for further examination. "Let's see here…..sensors for a tinting function that shuts bright lights out, night vision, X-ray, thermographic vision, hardened plastic for the outer frames…..okay….yup….uh-huh…this miiiiight be a little challenging, what with the amount of visions you want to throw in there and the size limitation, but strengthening the overall integrity of the goggles themselves shouldn't be too hard, we just need the right materials."

"Can't we just use Kevlar plates for the parts that cover his eyes? Nomex and para-aramid for the adjustable bands?"

"If the studio still has stock, then yes, definitely. Goggles aren't that big so we should be fine. If not, we can order more, but those aren't exactly cheap, and getting the paperwork through to the company that Mr. Power Loader works with to get authorization for the purchase itself will take at least a week and another week for shipping and handling. I mean, we could start working on…..other things while we wait..."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. Remember what Mr. Power Loader talked about?"

"Do the planning on paper first. Safety precautions and due diligence….right. Right….sorry…" Mei mentally kicked herself a couple of times, violently, for almost stumbling into the same landmine she stomped through.

Their orders came just as they paused to take a breath. A green and white maccha milkshake and a chocolate milkshake with some whipped cream and a cherry on top were placed on a coaster in front of them. "Thank you."

Mei sighed as she took a good long sip from the red king-sized straw. "Aaaahhh….much better," she sighed as she popped the cherry into her mouth. "Chocolate's good for the soul. Or so my mom said. Just so you know, I have never seen anyone order that flavor shake before. Ever."

"I-I like sweet things, just….um, in short bursts. I tend to go for dark chocolate if I have a choice."

"Hey, I'm not judging you for it. How does it taste?"

Izuku took a sip, savoring the milk, ice cream, the maccha powder and smacked his lips. "It's….wow, this i-is…it's really good."

"Really? I wanna try some."

"U-uh, sure, just…let me get a, another straw…."

"Nah I'll just take a quick sip." Before Izuku could say anything, Mei's lips latched around the straw of his milkshake. "Oh my. I'm definitely going to have to try this some other time."

"Um….yeah…." Izuku mumbled, his ears growing hot.

"Wanna try mine? It's my favorite for a reason."

"I….you….uh….."

"Oh, grow up Midoriya. We are way past the age of cooties." Mei pushed her shake towards Izuku.

Without much of a choice left, Izuku steeled himself and took a very small, quick sip from the straw. He barely could taste the chocolate flavor as if he were trying to channel the rising heat in his face through his eyes to burn a pair of holes into his notebook and through the counter. It took everything to not just slam his face into the counter to get a _proper_ concussion to forget what just happened. "S-s-so, um….what should we…..what should we do if the stock is gone?"

"Well, there are a couple alternatives but I need the inventory in front of me to actually put it together in my head."

"True….okay, we got the planning for that one done, so let's move onto something else. How about…..oooh, this is actually something that might be kinda fun." Izuku flipped through the notebook to another page, one dedicated to 1-A's resident punk rocker Kyoka Jirou. "This is mostly for rescue and recon."

"Long range pulse beacon launcher and visualizing visors…..you based this on my pointers and shooter baby for that…..uuuhhhh…..what was his name again?"

"Kaminari. And yes, but it's more….gun-like. So there's the long range precision rifle, wide range grenade launcher and short range pistol type. The visor lets the user visualize the surrounding area of the beacon emitting the sonar pulse including people as long as they're in range."

"And….aside from the precision rifle, the propulsion force is compressed gas?"

"Well, silence certainly helps with hearing. And not being detected."

"True….okay, you're right, it _is_ interesting. Although I have to say making the individual beacons is going to be…..quite a pain. Especially if you're adding this….calibrating system to emit specific sound frequencies that can be applied for wide-range incapacitation."

"Ummm….yeah, I might have…..I get a tad overzealous in terms of Quirks and the extent of their abilities. Sorry….."

"No it's….I personally think it's….you're amazing." Mei mumbled as she flicked her eyes at Izuku and back to her shake which she slowly sipped.

"Wha- _me?_ I'm not the one that's made over two hundred support items in less than four months."

"You're not in the Support Course, so of course not. I mean your flexibility, the….the creativity that you have, casing these different possibilities. And you're even taking notes through the textbooks that are for _my_ course in the margins. You clearly…. _care_. A lot. You may be in the Heroics Course, but your care….and i-it shows. I just….make whatever comes to mind, on and on. And it made me feel like…..like I don't care as much about my babies. Not like you." That pile of her babies in the corner of the studio, her proof of guilt that quite literally reached the ceiling was still there, after all.

"Well, you're giving yourself options as to what to show the companies to get drafted and catch their attention. It's practical to have more options, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Yes there is!" Mei insisted. "I just let my zeal do the thinking for me. I don't….I never actually _think._ Not consciously. And look where that got me. Where that …..got _you_." She took another deep gulp of her shake as she stared into the glass. "It just shows how much of an idiot _I_ am."

"What are you talking about? You….you practically gave me the nudge I needed in the right direction to establish Shoot Style! It may not have been your intention, but I still owe it to you. You made the arm braces, the boots _and_ the Air Force gloves! That was all you!"

"I mean I'm an idiot in the sense that I couldn't differentiate between being a foolhardy bitch with a devil may care attitude and taking calculated risks. I was like a….a ten year old skipping through a minefield."

"That's a very disturbing image, but okay, I see your point…..but you can now, can't you? That's what counts. And that's what you need to make sure that it counts in the future to avoid making the same mistake. The accident may have come close to taking my eye, but I still trust you, okay?"

"You….you really shouldn't."

"If I don't, then you won't and that's what we're trying to fix, so…..no." Mei sighed as she laughed softly. For all the knowledge and creativity boxed in that noggin covered with the scruffy green hair, Izuku Midoriya could be such an idiot. A bullheaded one at that, sporting a contagious million watt smile.

* * *

They walked back to the dorms in a somewhat comfortable silence, sandwiching the occasional light conversation about what to go over next, cool names for each of the items, and concepts of physics and chemistry that Mei was privy to which Izuku needed for the next quiz that was coming up.

"That was…fun, I guess."

"I have a new favorite drink now, so yeah…..I'd say that was fun. I-I can walk you back to your dorm. I-if you would like, I'm not forcing anything, just a suggestion. To make sure that you….you don't uh, collapse. Again."

"Sure." They walked past the dorm for students of 1-A and to the other dorms where the Support Course students dwell. Mei kept stealing glances at Izuku while he was drawing invisible lines with his fingers, muttering to himself about structural integrity, chemical bonds and the things she taught him. "So….how do you do it?"

"Hm?"

"How do you….move forward? After making mistakes? _The_ mistake?"

"It…." Izuku paused before he continued, "it takes time to do that, and the processing itself falls on you but….always remember that you can ask for help. No matter how gifted you are with heightened intelligence or a powerful god-like Quirk, there's a limit to how much you can take on, how long you can endure. Even All Might had a sidekick. So just, you know, know that you have that option."

"Ask for help…..ask you?"

"Well….I-I mean…not m-m-me _specifically_ , but if that's what you want…." Izuku shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably as he mumbled, face going red again. "O-or anyone that you trust enough to do so, like Mr. Power Loader. Or uh, M-Mr. Hound Dog, since he's the guidance counselor for a reason."

"Makes sense, but….I…I'd prefer asking for your help. A-at least, you know with….this, the designing….of new babies."

"Right, yeah. Of course. That makes sense….Guess I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah." With a wave, Izuku walked off, while Mei watched him go until he disappeared around the corner, before realizing something crucial: did they just go on a date?

* * *

This might seem like it's going fast. Is it going fast? I hope it isn't going too fast...


	3. Entertaining Possibilities

Well, merely two chapters in and already over a hundred followers...why do you guys like these ships so much...not that I blame you. Coming up with these things is fun.

Also, here's a random question. If Deku were to be in the Destiny Universe, which class do you think he would go for? I'll have a poll for that set up and it'll be open until I upload chapter 4, so check it out if you have the time.

I own nothing except this here fic.

* * *

Things were going well with Mei Hatsume, at least from what Power Loader could gather. Her trademark goggles were still not on, but her line of sight was higher than usual, and she smiled every so often when she previously would barely lift a brow unless it was to deepen a brooding frown. He sometimes found her drawing something in a spare notebook, jotting down notes in the margins while other times she was just staring off into space, thinking about…..something. Of what he knew not, but seeing her relatively happy was enough for now.

Plus, he had another two weeks of peace and quiet without losing sleep over the question of whether or not the studio would have to stock up on more fire extinguishers.

"Mr. Power Loader?" Mei asked, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Mm? What?"

"I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"Depends on the kind of favor, but we'll see. Spit it out." Power Loader had a feeling it was going to be the usual. Something utterly over-the-top and ridiculous. That is, until that thought was swiftly betrayed when Mei handed him several pieces of paper that were stapled together. "Okay, an application for a support item, as per usual…...for Aizawa?"

"Keep going." Mei motioned him to flip to the following pages with a list of materials and diagrams.

"Okay….Diagrams, calculations and whatnot seem to be in order, but what exactly do you want me to do with the stuff that isn't the application?"

"Since I'm still banned, I was hoping you could access the inventory database in the studio to see if the materials listed there are in stock and if you could set them aside for a later date to make this baby."

" _Ah_ , I see." Power Loader smiled faintly, silently thanking Izuku for his efforts thus far as well as his luck in the experimental approach that was succeeding thus far. "Alright, sure. I don't see why not. Don't blame me if some of the materials aren't there though."

"Great! I actually have three more." Another few sheaves of stapled paper were foisted onto Power Loader before Mei sped off to the cafeteria for lunch as she shouted out a thank you.

"Stop running in the hallway! I swear…" Power Loader looked down at the other three support items aside: the _Panzerblitz_ for Denki Kaminari _,_ a survival knife with an earphone jack outlet to activate the oscillatory function that would weaken the molecular bond of anything it cuts called the _HF Raiden Mk I_ , and a heavily customized, high capacity revolver simply called _Magnificent_ , complete with an assortment of bullets for various purposes _._ "But damn, these names are friggin' _cool!_ "

"What names?" A familiar dull, deadpanning male voice sounded from behind him, followed by a rather loud slurping noise from a disposable pouch of jelly-type energy drink.

"Oh, hey Eraser! Great timing. Ya might wanna take a look at this." Power Loader handed him the plans for the improved version of his goggles.

He stared at them for a solid ten seconds before replying, "I'm not tech-savvy like you. Explain."

"Basically better goggles with reinforced durability and a couple other visions. You'll need it."

"I don't-"

"You're gonna need it, trust me. Now more than ever, what with the aftereffects from USJ. It also has a moisturizing gimmick to help keep your eyes open for a longer period since you insist on not doing the surgery that'll get rid of your dry eye altogether. Just so you know, kid from your class cooked this up with one of mine."

"Let me guess: Midoriya?"

"Oh yeah. And Hatsume. I really am sorry about the accident, it's…my negligence that got lead to that situation."

"Don't be sorry, just don't let it happen again. He still has an eye, so leave it at that. If that's all, I need to go sleep." Handing the papers back, Aizawa walked away, back to his sleeping bag as he uncapped his eye drops. "Let me know when it's done."

Power Loader snickered quietly as he shook his head. Aizawa was not a soft judge of character by any stretch of the imagination. That being said however, he definitely _was_ quite a softie where it counts, although he stubbornly denies it and does a good job of not showing it. "Oh he is soooo gonna love these." Especially because of the utterly ridiculous name that they had concocted: the _EYE-Zawa version 2.2._

* * *

"Deku, what're you working on _now_? You've been at it on that notebook for the last week or so when you're not studying or training." Uraraka asked after the bell signaled the end of classes for the day.  
"Oh, it's….don't worry about it, it's just some ideas that may or may not be in the working at some point in the unforeseeable future."

"Ideas of…what?"

"Here." Izuku opened the notebook dedicated to support items to a random page, consequently making her jaw drop.

"Je-sus Christ on a cracker, are these all _support items!? For our class!?_ "

"U-um….yeah…..just, you know, some ideas that I m-m-might show uh, Mr. Power Loader….and I don't have ideas for everyone….."

"Oh my goodness, Tsu, look at yours! They look cool!"

"Ribbit….airtight utility pouches, the elastic tongue-piece, Dendro-darts and Dendro-bombs….what're the last three?"

"It's uh….the name's based off the scientific nomenclature of the poison dart frog, Dendrobatidae. You said that you could secrete a toxic liquid that just stings a little, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"I figured applying that to a tactical advantage might be something that could come in handy. The darts are just regular blowgun darts that you can dip in the liquid and give villains a quick jab with as a distraction or you could put a capsule filled with the toxin in a gas grenade kinda like Kacchan's, detonate them and disperse them over a wider area for crowd control if the needle doesn't work for whatever reason. Even if it's slightly irritable, imagine what'll happen if that gets in the mucus membranes. The tongue-piece is basically an elastic mouthpiece but for your tongue in case someone tries to…..you know…."

"Chop it off, got it." It was something that would definitely come in handy, especially because someone like Toga was able to hit it with a knife and a stowaway villain during her time with Selkie's crew had caught her tongue to drag her closer and pinned her to a rock face. "Hmmm, definitely sounds…..effective. Ribbit. I might wanna use them. Thanks."

"Yo, Midoriya you have one for me?!" Kaminari asked excitedly. "Please say you do."

"Um, uuh…..P-page twelve. I don't have one for every person though, just…FYI."

"The Panzerblitz…..Oh, what the shit!? This looks _badass_!"

"Kaminari, _language!_ " Although Iida rebuked him, it fell on deaf ears as the excited blonde looked at the page as if the item were actually in existence.

"What does this thing do?"

"It's a gauntlet for defense as well as close quarter offense with your off-hand in case someone gets too close for you to point and shoot. It'll balance out your fighting distance and give you more options. The batteries are rechargeable but it does have a limit to how much it can charge and how much it can release. Once you charge up and decide to use it at a later time you won't have to worry about frying your brain mid-crisis. It can double as an AED too."

"Midoriya, you….you oughta be a god, man. I want one and I want one now." Flipping the page, Kaminari let out a low whistle. "Oh yo, class rep, he's got one for you too. And get this, it's an _entire freakin' costume!_ You'd look like a human-size Transformer in these duds!"

That caught Iida's attention almost instantaneously. " _What?!_ " As Kaminari showed him the notebook with the suit sketched. It consisted of three parts: the inner suit resembled a wetsuit with made of mesh; an intricate coolant delivery system consisting of a harness with tubes connected to the calves that could be delivered at the push of a button; a more aerodynamic, lightweight outer armor covering all of that. "The _GT-Rmour Type 1_ …Oh….my word…..Midoriya….did you….did you really come up with this?! _All of this?_ In a week?!"

"I uh….I h-had some help with the technical stuff like materials and such, but t-t-the design concept is mine….yeah. I hope it's….to your liking…."

"This is _amazing!_ Believe me, if this…..this _masterpiece_ existed, I would wear it with pride and with your name on it. I would even have it painted green."

"Don-don't do _that!_ The design concept is sleek, simple, and sporty like the Skyline, you'll ruin the aesthetic!"

"Ooh, me next, me next!" The pink and horned Mina Ashido jumped up and down excitedly.

"Uh…um….I….page….fif-no uh, twelve. Yeah, twelve."

"Okay, let's see whatcha got for me…..oooohhhh…..Midoriya…..I love the new costume and _I am loving the Xeno-Launcher_. Very….Alien Queen-worthy design, if I do say so myself."

"Yeah….since you still have a limit to the range and amount of acid you can secrete at once, I figured this would come in handy in an emergency. I was a little worried it looks like a weird water gun, but it's only a draft, so it can change anytime."

"Just outta curiosity, is there one for me?" Jirou asked, tentatively as she curled her jack around her fingers.

"Actually, yeah. It's….one of the first ones that came to mind, actually. Page three."

"O-kay…..huh…" Jirou's triangular eyes widened and brows rose up into her bangs. "The _HF Raiden Mk I_. It's a pretty big knife. What's it for, besides the obvious?"

"It's a multipurpose knife, equal parts kukri, trench, and buck knife. So fighting, digging holes, cutting a tree down, starting a fire, whatever else you can come up with. The HF stands for high-frequency. By plugging in your jack and using your Quirk, the blade oscillates and compromises the molecular structure of what you're cutting through. The failsafe is that it's designed specifically so you and only you can use that function."

"Ah. That'll definitely come in handy when someone's too close for comfort. And the grip design is….leather cords. It's punkish and I like it." As Jirou flipped through the pages some more, her eyes widened yet again. "Todoroki, ya might want to take a gander at yours. This….to be blunt, is super complex but makes you look….awesome."

"Hm…." Upon hearing that, Todoroki looked at the page of his costume concept art in the suit that Izuku sketched out. "…..Can you actually get someone to make this? Like right now?"

"Oh, I think someone's in love with the new costuuuuume!" Mina mused.

"N-no-not right…now, um….M-m-maybe….sometime in the future though? It's not…not yet set in stone, so….it's…."

"How long?" he asked Izuku.

"What?"

"How long did it take you to come up with this?"

"Two days just for this one. The crash course in thermodynamic equilibrium and energy exchange is still giving me a headache."

"That would explain why you looked green around the gills during math class today…..I don't even wanna know what that's all about." Kirishima chuckled. "But wait…..crash course taught by who? Yaomomo?"

Momo Yaoyorozu's bushy ponytail swayed from side to side as she silently shook her head no. "It's _whom,_ Kirishima. Besides….from what I can see these calculations are….well, beyond my expertise, so it would be impossible for me either way. Mr. Power Loader, perhaps?"

"You….you could say that, yeah." Izuku smiled meekly, though he pondered: why had he selectively omitted the fact he worked with Mei in designing these gadgets? He wasn't ashamed, not at all. It felt good to see that good work was being appreciated. _Their_ work, both hers and his. But he couldn't help but feel this….hesitation in telling anyone. "Um….I actually have somewhere to be, so I'll see you guys later."

Quickly making his exit after collecting his bag and notebook, he headed upstairs to the roof of the school building. There was obviously the matter of keeping particulars of 'the incident' to himself like the fact he was helping Mei get back on her feet to recover from the trauma of hurting someone with her inventive fervor getting the best of her, but it was more than that. He couldn't quite place it though.

Going into the second week now of her ban from the studio, Izuku realized he spent far more time with her after school than he ever did in the past, which was to get costume upgrades and such, more often than not at _his_ convenience. Even if it was what she was there for to begin with and it didn't faze her in the slightest, Izuku couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty. As far as he was concerned, thinking of the costume upgrades in the first place was the _hero's_ job since they should have the firmest grasp of the parameters of their Quirk than anyone else: strengths, weaknesses, applications, their uses in conjunction with members of other agencies during a team-up, and everything else in between. As Aizawa had told the class a million times over, knowing was more than half the battle in any situation. Therefore having someone else essentially fight that battle _for_ them on their own just seemed…..wrong. Unfair. And utterly foolish. If the hero knew even a quarter of what the mechanic knew, the sacrifice play would be more or less off the table. Instead of lying down on the wire so others can crawl over it and you, the wire could simply be cut. The feeling may be misplaced, of course, but it didn't stop him.

Within the context of where Stain would draw the line between true, altruistic heroes and so-called 'fakers' and 'posers' combined with his encounter with Melissa Shield, Izuku was reeducated in the idea that _anyone_ can become a hero, with or without a flashy costume, a Quirk or a license for that matter.

* * *

That excursion to _The Dodge_ wouldn't count as a date. It was the only time they went there after all. Or did it? According to the dictionaries online, a date was a social or romantic appointment or engagement. At least something along those lines, anyhow. It was social, yes. But not romantic. It wasn't. Was it? Mei didn't know. And it frustrated her beyond measure. Knowing what to do as well as how to do it efficiently was something she was good at. It was her job. Her mission in life. Her raison d'être, even.

Not knowing was…..a first. Usually she would relish every challenge that obstructed her path, but this one…..she couldn't even begin how to approach the damn conundrum. She did _like_ him. Maybe not in the conventional romantic context, but she did. It would be….platonic. Yes, that was it. Or the Greek _philia_ , affectionate regard of one another as equals in a friendly manner. "If only it were as easy as C++ or Linux….." That was at least another language she understood aside from some German.

"What was?" Izuku asked in the school gym clothes, making Mei almost yelp in surprise. Another first time.

"Oh, um…uh, it's nothing. Just….thinking out loud. To myself."

"Um…okay….?"

"So, how'd everyone else take it?"

"They seemed pretty excited. How'd the applications go for the support items?"

"For Mr. Aizawa's new goggles, they have stock and as for the other equipment and parts, they're on their way as we speak."

"Awesome."

"So…..where do we go from here? We've got whatever babies we could muster for your classmates out. Do you wanna move onto 1-B?"

"Mmm, I thought about that but I figured it wouldn't do any good. I'm not in their class, and I don't think they'd be too keen on blabbing about their Quirk too openly."

"Then….I guess that leaves us…..free….?"

"Um….y-yes?" Izuku was consciously trying to control his breathing now, their excursion for shakes still fresh in his mind, taking sips out of each other's glasses. "Unless….you have ideas that you want to put down?"

"I….not…..not yet."

"Okay….have you been getting enough sleep though?" Mei nodded. For the first few days the nightmares had continued to ravage her mind, not leaving her with even a moment of peace but through several counselling sessions and Izuku doing his best to keep her steady, checking in with her every now and then.

"Better. I can manage…..six hours without waking up in the middle of the night now. Five out of seven days."

"Okay, that's something. Can I ask you something, Hatsume?"

"Hm?" Mei tensed up. What was he going to ask her? To go on another….friendly, social engagement elsewhere? She didn't have any reason to say yes. Or to say no. Wait, she did. She took him on one.

"How athletic are you?"

"Come again?" While she was somewhat relieved that it was not an invitation to a date, the question didn't seem to make any sense.

"Well, I figured trying something new would….give you perspective and help you sleep better if you're tired. It helps me."

"And your answer to that is physical activity?"

"Yeah. Well, it-it uh, helps me focus and forget about….whatever I want to forget about. It wouldn't hurt you to give it a try. I just-it's….that's my vote. And I borrowed your high density weights from Mr. Power Loader by the way." He revealed the familiar looking metallic bands on his wrists and ankles. They were the perfect solution to helping him bulk up even further and he felt like an idiot not coming up with it immediately after the finals. Through the adjustments, he was carrying someone roughly twice his own weight to start. "So…..w-would you, uh…..um, be willing t-to give it a try?"

Mei was no stranger to strenuous activity since she did have to be fit to a certain amount in order to test out her babies _and_ to compete in the Sports Festival. A little more certainly wouldn't hurt. Plus, this was just….doing exercise in the same area as someone else, like asking someone to spot you while you bench pressed a barbell. "Sure. I'll get changed first. Could you wait at the main entrance?"

"G-great…..Yeah….okay." As he turned around to leave, he continued to whisper to himself under his breath, "This is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date…." He was supposed to be _helping_ Mei. This was him helping her. That's all it is, all it should be, and all it needs to be. To overstep that boundary―― _the_ boundary――would be, in Iida's words: unprofessional. Izuku's mantra soon switched to reinforcing the emotional distance between him and her: "Keep it professional, keep it professional, keep it professional, keep it professional, keep it professional, keep it professional, keep it professional, keep it professional, keep it professional, keep it professional….."


	4. State Of Denial

This is getting surprisingly hard to write...and I haven't gotten that many votes on the poll, I'll keep it up a while longer on my profile page...

I try to do something a little...new, I guess, terms of an origin story for Mei since I kinda rush through it although I'm trying to come to terms with that since I don't plan on making this too long and make it relatively about the same length as Green Muse.

I own nothing except this here fic.

* * *

It first started off with running, with Izuku taking the lead albeit through pained and straining gasps for air as he kicked at the sand with his toes with all the strength his body could generate, pushing himself forward from one edge of the beach to another.

Mei herself was keeping up with no problem, and just as her partner mentioned, the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other for an extended amount of time seemed to have the desired effect of taking the mind off certain troubles. That being said however, she soon found her stamina depleting quickly on account of the uneven footing provided by the sand. While she fared well for the most part, her pace slowed and eventually stopped at roughly three quarters of the length of the beach from one end to the other and back.

Izuku, on the other hand, kept powering through the pain and fatigue, gritting his teeth so hard that he felt they might shatter, panting with a light head, burning lungs and the taste of bloody iron in his throat. "Come on, move…..move dammit, move." Literally carrying the doubled weight of himself was draining his stamina a lot faster a lot quicker than he anticipated, but in the end, he crossed the finish line he drew in the sand, slowing his breathing whilst waiting for Mei to catch up.

He smiled satisfactorily as he looked down at the weights. These were _perfect._ They were waterproof so he could keep them on for as long as he wants, aside from going to sleep. Once he had somewhat caught his breath, Izuku threw his sweat-stained windbreaker to the side, proceeded to get on all fours and began his own style of burpees: one mixed with clapping push-ups and jumping squats.

Mei knew that Izuku had a firm build during their second encounter at the Design Studio, having knocked him over onto his back and when she patted and prodded him to size him up for the arm brace. But this…..this was….new. And maybe a little too much stimulus as well. She felt a sharp pain in her lower lip and realized she had bit down on it so hard to the point where there was an iron taste in her mouth. While quite shamelessly ogling her viridian-haired genius designer, who was drenched in sweat as the sun sinking into the horizon laid thick kisses on his chiseled, glistening body as he took deep breaths and stretched in preparation for the next set.

She furiously shook her head from side to side while her hormones screamed that her partner was an unmistakable alpha male in the making, in substance at least if not in name. The shaking of her head grew intense as Mei flung those thoughts from her mind. Hormonal teenager or not, Izuku was a….a partner. An equal partner in the endeavor of developing support items. As well as someone that was trying to get her back on track to get her head back on straight after some major trauma that _she_ caused and _he_ got caught in.

He was doing this out of the goodness of his heart. Because he wants to, because it's what a hero would do. The motivation was clearly out of a sense of duty; responsibility. That much was clear. She needed to respect that.

They were partners. Just….partners. Professional ones. Nothing more. And she needed to do everything in her power to keep it that way.

Feeling something wasn't right on account of the rather long silence from the considerably more talkative gadgeteer, Izuku turned to Mei. "Hatsume, are you oka-ok…o….." The word 'okay' shriveled up and died faster than a slug in salt. Hatsume was covered in sweat too, and she had unzipped her UA issue windbreaker as well, tying it around her waist like she did with the sleeves of her jumpsuit in the studio. All she had on top was her usual tank top, revealing a well-balanced, toned build of her upper body from the years of handling heavy machinery, equipment and gadget-testing, particularly her shoulders, arms and although he couldn't see it, her back as well. To make things worse (or better), the tank top drenched in sweat was hugging her ample bust tighter than usual, highlighting her curves even more.

Quickly scurrying over to the waves, Izuku got on all fours and smashed his face into the incoming surge of salt water with his eyes open. "Uh….Midoriya, what was that for?"

"It's…..just cooling off. And self-cleansing." Of impure, unsavory thoughts about _her_. He was there to _help_ her, for crying out loud, not shamelessly ogle at her like Kaminari or, god forbid, _Mineta_ would. This was a personal matter, but it was work as well. Besides, even if she _were_ to entertain the notion of putting the moves on him, as Midnight would say, he didn't want her to waste her time. Not with him. "Uh…..you wanna go back now, or….."

"That was just a run, so I'm thinking of doing some more. You sure _you_ can go on? You looked like you were about to die from your heart overworking itself."

"Yeah, I'm alright. What do _you_ usually do?"

"Nothing special. Just the heavy lifting in and out of class and testing my babies all day."

"Right….right…." While Mei sat and watched, Izuku went through his usual regimen, his muscles screaming to stop as he continued to power through. Lying flat on his back, he winced every now and then from the soreness of everything. "Done…..urgh..."

"You…..might have gone overboard with those. They're not exactly meant for being equipped perpetually."

"I have to for increasing my maximum output of my Quirk. At least 50% by the time I graduate from UA. Or more."

"Sounds like a long road."

"Yeah…..can't go back now though." Nor did Izuku plan to. "Can I ask you something…..that might be somewhat personal?"

"What?"

"What brought you to UA? And the Support Course?"

"Kind of a long story and I'll have to go all the way back to family history."

"Um, i-i-if, if you don't want to, it's totally fine! I'm not trying to prying-I mean, pry into your private affairs! Just….curious….sorry…"

"It's fine. You might wanna sit down for this though." Undoing the windbreaker, she sat down on it like a mat and leaned against the wall. Izuku did the same as he sat down next to her, although he took care to be far enough to not cause any discomfort (mostly for himself). "This goes all the way back to when Quirks first appeared in the world and before the government systems incorporated Pro Heroes as a job. My….grandma was a vigilante."

"What? Your….your _grandma?_ Wait….wait a minute…..I don't remember the name, but I remember reading something in an old newspaper clipping when I was a writing a paper. Uuuhh….something about the…..oh, damn, I can't remember the name….started with an L? Something Russian?"

"The second coming of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, yeah. That's her. Meiko Saika, aka Sharpie. She used to be a member of the Tokyo Metro PD's Special Assault Team before turning into a vigilante."

"Whoa….." Izuku whispered in awe. Who knew a quirky gadgeteer had such a unique parents with an unconventional background?

"Yeah. She was there as Team 1's sniper for….ten or so years and even taught Special Forces overseas. Sometime during her career as a sniper, she met my grandpa Akio Hatsume, a bright and nerdy expatriate CSI of the NYPD. After that she quit and turned to vigilantism but as to the circumstances, not even my mom knows, but those two stuck with each other through the years even after my mom was born. She retired after that, of course."

"How do people with….those kinds of jobs….you know, go out and meet people?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. I may know a lot of things, but not that."

"Be that as it may, your grandfather must have been….a really brave man. Sticking with someone with such a special kind of job, and even when they're in that…..that moral gray zone that perpetuated before Pro Heroes were a thing. Not to mention becoming a potential target for other criminals to exploit."

"According to mom, grandpa was bullied as a child being a nerdy science kid and was socially awkward, kinda like you. Until he lost his virginity to her."

"Vir-wha….." Izuku averted his gaze in silence as Mei snickered at his reaction but screamed in her mind and kicked herself for her callously spoken words.

"A-Anyways, they got married, grandma retired from vigilantism once she found out she was pregnant, my dad Akito Hatsume came to be, and he married my engineer mom Nariko after winning a dare at college, leading to my conception."

"Wait what? Your parents agreed to get married _over a dare?!_ " Izuku's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Mm-hmm. They were already going out after a month's worth of classes together in their sophomore year. The dare was whoever manages to snag the summa cum laude award needs to ask the loser to marry them. In front of everyone after the ceremony."

Izuku felt his breath catch as he tried to digest this new piece of information. Proposing to someone behind closed doors after a dinner was one thing. In public, after graduating from college however, was another matter altogether. He knew that if he were in Akito Hatsume's position, he would most likely collapse from a heart attack. Or screw the proposal up in public and risk embarrassing the both of them in front of the whole school. "I….wow…your ancestors…are…..courageous. To an insane degree."

"Mom always said she could make a movie out of our family lives. But when I was ten, we were having some family time together and there was….a villain attack in the streets on the way back. Pro Heroes got there quick and dealt with the situation but in the aftermath, debris from a building crumbled off and was about to hit us. One of the heroes stepped in to stop it but the equipment he had malfunctioned and didn't deploy. My dad shielded us and…..he lost his right arm from the elbow down. And he's partially blind in his left eye." Mei shuddered as she squeezed her eyes shut, the memory creeping back into view of her mind's eye. The glass, the concrete, the rebar, the pool of blood that was growing bigger underneath him, her mother screaming and crying, and Mei herself shouting as she sobbed all the way to the hospital, through the night with her mother, praying to a higher power that he would come back.

"He has….implants now and y-you can barely tell the difference, but…after that, I….wanted to make sure nothing like that ever happened again. To anyone. So the newer, the more there are out there, the better. The more….ease I felt at heart. Seeing you bleed because of what I did just….it….triggered memories….but anyways, that's what motivates me landing me a slot as a student at UA's support course." As she took a breath, Mei heard sniffling. Turning her head, she saw the viridian haired teen sitting next to her was crying. He was _crying_.

"You...I….." Words hadn't even been invented yet for Izuku to accurately express what he was feeling. This overwhelming mixture of amazement, admiration, respect, sadness….and utter shame. "I'm sorry….."

"What for? You didn't do it."

"No, just….for my preconceptions I've had about you. I know that….despite all the explosions you cause in the Design Studio, your excessively assertive attitude, the amount of grief that you give Mr. Power Loader who now texts me about periodically and the accident with me…..tha-that you were a smart person but now…..I don't even know what to say or think. And you're doing this _for_ someone. And yourself. You're doing this to…to honor your parents, your family. I may look like I care about your babies more than you do, but I think _you_ care about family more than anyone I know and f-f-from what you told me, that…loyalty, that commitment to them, your work, it's….it's nothing short of amazing. Thank you for telling me all of this and….I'm really sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable digging up old scars…."

"I should be thanking you, actually. I never told anyone at UA about my family, except Mr. Power Loader. So…thank you for listening."

"One of the few things I'm actually good at."

"Guess my secret's safe with you then?" Mei asked, giving Izuku a light poke on his shoulder.

"O-of course! I-I-I wouldn't _dare_ tell anyone something this….this sensitive."

"Great. Now gimme the weights."

"What?" Izuku asked dumbly.

"The weights on your ankles and wrists. _My_ weights. Take them off and give them to me so I can calibrate them for extensive use. You're no good to me if you're physically injured to the point of being out of commission wearing those."

"Oh, r-right!" But Izuku had forgotten that they were still active, the doubled weight of himself making him struggled. With a small giggle, Mei swiftly undid the clasps and slipped them off, pushing them into her pockets. "I think we should head back now. The dorms do have a curfew."

"Mm….Can I….I'd like to make a proposition to you. Since….we're working as…as equal partners right now for making my babies, I think…..it's necessary for you to pick up at least the rudimentary skills. We can start next week building Mr. Aizawa's goggles or…w-whatever other item that was specified on the application that's been vetted together." That being said, however, rudimental didn't even begin to cover the vastness not to mention the downplayed complexity of what the Support Course covered, including the use of machinery from the plasma cutter and belt grinder to the simple hammer and anvil. "Th-that is, if you're at all interested! I know that you already have your hands full with being in the Hero Course and your training outside of it plus assignments from that course, so if you can't or don't want to, it's….perfectly understandable…."

"Sure. Being a hero's more than just fighting villains and saving people from disasters. What I can learn from you will definitely help me along the way. Knowing is more than half the battle in any situation so i-if you're willing to take time out to teach me….how can I say no?"

"YAY!" Overcome with joy, Mei flung her arms around Izuku and hugged him for a solid five seconds before she realized what she had done. "U-um…uh, so sorry. I-I didn't…I'm not…"

"No! No no nonono, it's-I'm fine don't worry…I-I get it, understood. Y-you don't have to-"

"Right, of course not! Um….race you back to the dorm!" Mei shot away like a bullet from a gun, cursing herself with rapid mutters. "Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid-" She had crossed the line. Maybe with a toe, but in her eyes it was a transgression nonetheless. Not even a day and she had broken her own rule.

But then again, synergy (of the _platonic nature_ ) was of paramount importance to make a partnership of any kind work and to excel, there was no denying that they had to maintain a high level of that, hence the proposition which, luckily for Mei, Izuku was happy to accept. His near-manic obsession with heroes, Quirks, and anything and everything pertaining to those subjects meshed with her own borderline psychotic obsession with creating support items perfectly like cogs on an accurate clock. She didn't need the drama of romance. Or this painful heart-pounding against her rib cage. Or that blissful sensation of contentment she felt after hugging her partner. And especially the lingering heartache that felt like splinters in her heart for letting him go.

"Race….? W-we don't even live in the same dorm…." But the thought was cut off with a sneeze. The sweat paired with him dunking his head into the salt water was decreasing his body temperature, though that problem was quickly remedied a split second later remembering Mei suddenly hugging him. But she couldn't mean anything by it. This was just…..another part of him helping her and helping her help herself. Besides, expressing emotions engaging in physical contact and violating personal space was….her thing. She did it all the time.

Now free from the weighted bands, Izuku sped after Mei, wincing every now and then from the soreness but never once thought to bring the running pace down as he tried to bury what had just happened and what he felt and channeled his inner Aizawa, the rational explanations that ought to make sense of the event.

That happy feeling was because he never had any real friends until high school. Hell, he got flustered just talking to female _classmates_ that he had spent several months with. This was nothing different and was just his emotions getting the best of him, overreacting to a simple hug. Everyone did hugs. Besides, many of her family members spent ample time in America according to her history, where hugging was a greeting or a gesture of gratitude and appreciation for those familiar with each other. There, yes. That was it, the answer to these questions suddenly plaguing his heart and mind. A simple hug that meant thank you. It was just a thank you to a familiar individual. There was nothing more and nothing less. There was no dividend to be expected aside from the sense of accomplishment and the string of completed support items that they were going to successfully construct. Nor should he expect anything beyond it since her objective was to be noticed and picked up by an agency that specializes in support items to make sure all heroes were well-equipped, getting them out of tight spots no matter what the situation. He wouldn't be worth her time in _that_ regard.

That being said though, Izuku could hardly wait for the week to be over so they could start creating support items together. Although it was a subjective opinion, Izuku felt Mei and him _did_ make a pretty good team.

* * *

I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to incorporate drama into this one like i did with Green Muse on account of Mei being a going-my-way type of person. Once she finally admits being head over heels for him, I have a feeling she would just say it casually while making another cool gadget.

Maybe there's going to be something with Uraraka...or Iida...or Asui? I honestly have no idea. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for reading.


	5. The Wrath of Murphy's Law

Sorry this chapter took a while to come up with. I was planning on uploading it sooner but I got swamped with writing other things like cover letters, short stories assigned for classes and other such things. I am going to try to drag their confession/getting together officially until chapter 8-10 or somewhere around there.

I'm going to be honest with you all and say that writing the process of them getting there is something that I am _not_ particularly good at, but believe me when I say I'll try damn hard. There will be fluff, but not smut...not yet at least.

* * *

The following week crawled by in an agonizingly slow pace, which was absolute torture for Mei. And as much as she wanted to go on a creating spree for the next week and a half while locking herself in the studio without sleep, Izuku had pretty much locked her sleep cycle in place, checking almost every day to make sure she had enough to eat and had enough sleep. That had compelled her to just do exactly that so he wouldn't be breathing down her back as well as to avoid repeating the same mistake.

Mei's only solution for this was to create more blueprints with Izuku, only he wasn't there because she herself made sure of it. She was on the rooftop of the school building, almost hiding from him with her lunch――a sandwich and small Tupperware of potato salad――in hand. Her reason for avoiding him the past few days was simple: that hug. That unplanned, unsanctioned, random act of affection. It was…..harrowing, to say the least. Nothing had ever bothered her this much before. _Nothing._ Except for the accident, of course but this was…..different. The scene replayed in her mind at random moments, even in her dreams.

Deciding it might be a good change of pace, she began drawing some ideas up on her own, but they all ended up into a crumpled heap in the trash can on account of being a bunch of half-baked ideas. Some were a hair above mediocre at best while others just didn't sit right with her, be it the concept, design, intended use or a combination of the three. Her performance made it painfully loud and clear that she needed Izuku next to her. Not that her faucet of creativity was useless and dry, it wasn't; but his presence made her _excel_ , but therein lay the problems.

In order for her to come up with even a decent quality support item, she needed Izuku's acumen of designing and general input of the highest caliber of intelligence about heroes. If he were here, however, while there would be progress with gadgets, it made Mei's resolve to keep things professional between them crumble like a coat of old paint. On the other hand, if he weren't here, everything progressive grinds to a halt, although the professionalism can be maintained.

"Rrrrrrghhh!" Mei tore at her hair, growling in anger and frustration. She didn't need romance. The heartaches, the fights, the drama, the falling out, the crash and burn―――all of that can stay in the land of fiction and the lives of other people who have even a modicum of interest in pursuing it. Not her. Definitely not her. Her work was too important for it, not to mention the utter absence of functionality in such a relationship. If one or the other were to be compromised by villains somehow, they could get to the other through the one that was compromised, not to mention the drawbacks of the potentially destructive results working with someone that you had a falling out with would yield. It would not only put their lives but the lives of others at risk, a risk that Mei had no intention of taking. Not again and not ever. Besides, it would never work out between them, not after what she did to him or what she could've done despite his magnanimous gesture of forgiveness.

She didn't doubt Izuku's sincerity, which was the one thing Mei could count on aside from his brains. She did believe his words of forgiveness. And that smile. Not one of blinding radiance like All Might's, but more like the warm rays on an early afternoon during the fall starting to peek out of the cloud. Just enough for warmth and to brighten someone's day. It was pure, like fire, one that indicated he clearly enjoyed something――"No!"

He is not worth the aggravation. Neither him nor any other boy. Stuffing the rest of her lunch in her mouth, Mei stomped her way back to class, slapping at the rising corners of her mouth. "Dammit, Midoriya…why are you making my life so damn complicated!?" That was perhaps the one and only thing Mei hated about her partner.

* * *

Izuku was worried about Mei. Not about her physical health; he made sure that she would take care of herself in that regard so she wouldn't have to go through what she did with him, and she complied. It was more about her…..recent attitude. She seemed to be actively trying to not interact with him unless it was about creating new support items. Even then, she seemed to be restless and impatient to leave the room as fast as she possibly could.

Did he somehow offend her, inadvertently or otherwise? Izuku had to admit it was highly likely, being mostly friendless on top of being Quirkless for almost a decade left him basically incompetent when it came to social activity unless he were speaking to an adult or a male classmate. If anyone―― particularly girls――got into his personal space, the hard drive known as his brain would immediately freeze and seize up, making him blush, look away, cover his face with his arms and even babble on in inaudible mumbles like an utter dolt. Hell, the only girls that he really held a full-blown conversation with was Uraraka, Asui, Melissa and Mei. Even then he needed a period of adjustment before he could carry on like a functional human being.

First and foremost he needed to apologize if that were the case. But about what? Unless he knew what exactly he did, he'd only be wasting his breath, not to mention her time. Asking Mei for answers would make things easier, if only she would just wait long enough to let him ask the question.

"Gaah!?" Izuku screamed as he jumped out of his seat upon feeling a shock to the back of his neck, snapping him out of his mumbling after classes ended. He turned around to see a sighing Kaminari who held up a finger that sparked for a couple of seconds.

"Jesus Christ man, we were trying to snap you out of it for the last five minutes. I have never seen anyone make Bakugou rage-quit so fast."

"Five mi-it's….it's been that long?"

"Mmm-hmmm." Kaminari nodded. "Todoroki tried putting a bit of ice down the back of your shirt, Kirishima slapped you on the shoulder really hard, Jirou jammed a jack in your ear, and Bakugo spent a full minute cussing you out with profanity that would make a sailor cringe. Then I finally brought you back."

"Wha….?! Wait, is _that_ why I have a slight headache, a throbbing in my shoulder and a wet back?!"

"….Yeah….sorry….Kaminari I'll wait for you outside." Sero mumbled apologetically as he casually shoved his phone into the pocket of his pants, slowly moseying on out of the class.

"Sero took a video of it. Any longer and I figured you'd probably end up summoning a legion of demons led by Satan himself at some point. Either that or pass out on the floor from just….not breathing. Here." He foisted a handful of coins into Izuku's hand.

"W-what's this?"

"Oh, uh, some of the guys and girls in class made a bet to see who'd be able to snap you out of it, and I took the pot. Since I basically got somewhat rich off of you, I figured it's only fair you get an equal cut of it."

"But――"

"Ah-ah-ah-ah! You're taking it. Just keep it, okay? Token of my gratitude. So, what's gotcha so especially mumbly today?"

"It's….well…." Izuku hesitated. He appreciated Kaminari's concern, he really did. But considering how he is more or less shameless as Mineta is, sans the lack of restraint the dwarfish grape-headed classmate constantly displayed, he was probably _not_ the person to talk to about this sort of thing. But he wasn't a bad person, so he figured giving the blonde classmate the benefit of the doubt wouldn't hurt. He would just have to omit certain details. "I'm…..I may or may not have done something to anger or at least offend…..a-a certain someone. And w-well, I need to figure out what exactly I did to make that happen, or else….."

"Right, the apology would count for shit."

"Yeah…"

"Hm…..well, first off, let's get one thing clear. Who is this person that you offended? Allegedly."

"I plead the fifth." Izuku squeaked, his eyes darting toward the windows.

"This is Japan, dummy. Spit it out, is it a girl? I bet it's a girl. Is it Uraraka? Is it? Huh?"

"Wha-no! No, it's not Uraraka!" Izuku immediately regretted his decision to open his mouth about sensitive matters like this that involved the opposite sex not only when Kaminari was within earshot but directly to his face.

"Is it Tsu then? Or…..it's not…..it's not that girl from the Support Course, is it?" Kaminari didn't need to hear an answer. The color of Izuku's face said it all. "Oh _dios mio_ , it is. Holy fucking shit…..wow…..um…."

"Kaminari, I need you to be discreet about this. You aren't involved in it so you can't possibly understand how delicate the situation is. She's…..the first person outside of class that I-I consider a really, really good friend that I can talk to, about heroes, costumes and everything in between. So please, just…please keep quiet. In fact, forget that I told you anything." Izuku bowed his head to the point where his back and legs was more or less ready to get on his knees if it meant keeping his mouth shut

"Whoa, whoa whoa, dude. No need to beg. Alright! Fine! I'll keep quiet. But, on one condition."

"…..Okay….what is it?" Izuku asked cautiously.

"Give me updates. Deal?"

"Fine….." At this point, he was ready to take over Kaminari's chores for the next week. Considering how much he likes gossip like the gossipy female counterpart Mina Ashido, this was a time bomb. One that he had activated, and already he was regretting this decision. "But there's nothing going on between us, before you get the wrong idea. We're friends. Okay? And keep the updates to yourself!" With that, Izuku stormed off before the blonde teen could elicit an answer.

Izuku power walked and ran as quickly as his legs could move, heading for the roof of the school building where he was supposed to meet Mei. He was already several minutes late, and the last thing he wanted to do was offend her even more with tardiness or worse, call off the entire partnership. Skipping three steps of stairs with each leap, he burst through the door, ready to unload a lengthy apology, only to see an empty rooftop. "Oooooh…..crap…..Oh no…oooooh dear….I'm screwed. No… no no no, don't jump to conclusions….maybe...maybe _she's_ late too? Yeah, that must be it." He was late by ten minutes or so, but it was still entirely possible and justifiable to hypothesize that Mei was late as well, being caught up in her own thoughts about personal designs of support items and whatnot.

So Izuku waited; five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes slowly crawled by as he sat with a bated breath. The more he waited the more he became certain that he had definitely screwed up and she had gone back to the dorms when he didn't show up on time. As much as he wanted to contact her, he didn't have her contact information so his hands were tied.

Pulling out his phone, he dialed Power Loader, who picked up after two rings. "Hello?"

"Mr. Power Loader? I-i-it's..it's M-Midoriya…" Izuku's voice shuddered.

"What's up?"

"Hatsume and I were supposed to meet up on the roof today for more ideas and designing but I don't have her contact information so I was hoping you could check in with her to see where she is right now?" Izuku asked in one breath, on the verge of having a panic attack.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there, slow down kid. Why do you _not_ have her contact information after all the designing that you've done? That's what _I_ wanna know."

"Well, it….we….we….didn't really…..n-need to…..I know, I'm an idiot, I'm sorry…."

"No worries, I'll give her a call. Stay on the line."

"Okay….thank you…" Izuku prayed to whatever higher power existed that this was just a mistake on her part and that she was running late because of something.

"I don't know how to put this delicately but….I can't reach her. Her phone's shut off or something, probably. But I did see her leave the building so I'm assuming that she's back in the dorms. Sorry I can't do more. But don't stress too much about it. Believe it or not, I've never seen her get angry over something this small. I can call you back if she does."

"That would be great….thank you." With a heaving sigh wracked with guilt, he ended the call and headed back to the dormitory, dragging his feet.

Mei was probably the first, if not only person that more or less understood him on a level that nobody in this school――including _All Might_ ――could ever hope or think to achieve. She was….brilliant. Sure, her motor mouth and disregard for personal space may be off-putting to most people. Truth be told, it was for him the first few times they even met. After the accident though, she had changed for the better, as far as he could tell. She would double check, triple check, and sometimes even quadruple check the designs and calculations for any flaws, sniffing them out like a bloodhound. Her knowledge in Pro Heroes was already extensive and was now bigger thanks to Izuku's notebooks which she relished every moment opening it.

Even without designing anything, simply talking to her about something they were both passionate and knowledgeable about was challenging but just as fun, if not more. Izuku knew Mei was one of the most optimistic people he had ever met, and that opinion hadn't changed at all. Even now, she would pitch ideas that would benefit not only specific heroes but the police force as well in order to bolster public opinion of them. Plus, the impact of her family's background made it no surprise why Mei is who she is today. Courage, commitment, optimism――she had every trait necessary for a hero. Hell, with the right gadgets, she could even be one herself like Professor David Shield!

Mei always had that wicked twinkle in her irises adorned with crosshairs like she knew exactly how to surprise him, exactly how to lift his spirits, in the most unconventional ways possible. That was it: she was the epitome of unconventionality. The embodiment of the very concept. That was what made her such an amazing partner not to mention an amazing person both within the context of support items and without.

And he had just betrayed that person's trust by being late. If she has her phone shut off to the point she doesn't want to even answer it, there was no word that could possibly express the level of anger she was feeling. Izuku had never seen Mei angry before, but he could deduce easily enough that it was the quiet ones and the bright and bubbly ones that would be extremely scary should they snap or at least get angry to a certain degree.

His stupidity and tardiness may have just cost him the friendship of a lifetime with the person that understands him the most. "I might as well get prepared for a slap in the face tomorrow….at least….." Izuku thought he had gotten used to the throbbing aches of mental scars and the pain of receiving new ones. The blurry heat rising in his eyes told him how wrong he was.

* * *

"Oh shit…." Mei covered her face in horror as she groaned into her hands for her utter stupidity in the midst of finishing up an assignment. "Fuuuuuuuuuuck! _I FORGOT ABOUT TODAY'S MEETING!_ " It had completely fallen out of her head. Committing things to memory and planning were supposed to be her strong suits. She even had reminders set on her phone, which had not gone off.

It was out of power. "Oh no…no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no." Plugging the charger into her phone after fumbling around with it for a good ten seconds, the reminders for meeting with Izuku went off, followed by missed calls from Power Loader. "Oh shit…shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!"

This was bad. Potentially catastrophic. If the past interactions with Izuku had taught Mei anything, it was that he had a gentle heart, and therefore a sensitive one. Keeping the constant pressure of becoming an aspiring hero, the effects could go beyond simple words of adverse. It didn't matter if he was getting accustomed to it; it didn't mean what she did wouldn't hurt. First she needed to call Power Loader back to ask what he wanted.

"Ah, Hatsume! I was wondering what'd happened when you wouldn't pick up the first few times."

"Oh, I-I'm sorry, my uh….my phone was out of power and I just realized that. Did….did something happen?"

"Midoriya asked me to check in on you since you didn't show up for some meeting that he said you two planned to have or something and I'm playing operator to make sure you're okay on his behalf."

"Was…was he angry? Was he crying? Did….is he okay?"

"Not really sure what your definition of 'okay' is, but…..he seemed pretty worried. And guilty."

"Oh my god….what kind of a…." Mei was not the religious or spiritual type, but this was the one time she silently begged for a higher power for a spontaneous combustion to blast her face-first out of the window. How could she possibly call herself his friend for ditching him like that without an explanation? The _arrogance!_ Of course he'd be confused, scared, and lonely! "I am such a bitch."

"Well, make sure you apologize for ditching him today. I'll give Midoria a call to put his mind at ease."

"Of course. Thank you."

"And one more thing: make sure you exchange contact information when you work together. You're calling him your partner for a reason."

"Yeah…..I'll uh, I-I'll get on that. Soon."

"Preferably by tomorrow please. See you tomorrow." Ending the call, Power Loader dialed Izuku again to give him some good news, only for the automated message of the phone being off or out of range play over and over again. "Huh….well, not my problem anymore." Mei did say she was going to apologize to him later after all.


	6. The Bane of Mei Hatsume

Hey folks, I'm finally back with another chapter of this Deku x Mei fic. I'm so sorry I've left this thing covered in a thick coat of digital dust for this long. Things have been hectic, I've been losing my motivation to write, etc, you know how it goes. I'm trying my best to get back into the swing of things. Got a new OC for y'all that was mentioned in past chapters.

As always, I own nothing except this here fic. And Happy Holidays to you.

* * *

Power Loader told her that he'd pass the apology along. Being her teacher and an adult, she had every bit of faith that he would follow through with his words and tell Midoriya that it was a misunderstanding. But having something like an apology being passed along by someone else like it were a casual game of telephone just didn't sit right with her, especially because she came close to taking half his sight permanently. It was a matter of personal honor.

The plan was simple and twofold: text the apology, look for him, pull him to the side, and then apologize in person _before_ school was out. Yet everything was already going to shambles in phase one. "…..This is all just bad writing." Mei grumbled as she glared at the screen of her phone. On the memo function were several paragraphs, varying versions of her letter of apology that she was going to send to Izuku after taking down his number given by Power Loader as a text. But none of them seemed to completely encapsulate how deep her remorse ran for leaving him hanging. "God, what the hell kind of a partner am I?"

To make matters worse, the bell before homeroom started was exactly four minutes and twenty three seconds away and counting. People were already seated or filing in in twos and threes, chattering about what they were going to do in the studio, the snags they were wrestling with, or preparing for the next class and possible pop quiz.

* * *

"Midoriya, I am _so sorry_ for ditching you that day! It just…..I…i-it just, it slipped my mind. I have no excuse for――"

"For the hundredth time, Hatsume: _it's okay. I forgive you_. These things just happen without warning, don't they? I'll admit that I got a little freaked out and may have overreacted at your absence, but Mr. Power Loader cleared everything up, so we're okay." Izuku stifled a chuckle. The string of apologies first came through a lengthy text message that was more an essay in terms of its format expanding on what happened, the probable causes, and profuse apologies which had to be broken up into two parts. Then came a phone call, an apology during lunch, and this one after classes.

God, she was more flustered than _he_ was yesterday! While he knew it was not exactly appropriate to laugh at someone who'd been traumatized especially when he himself was involved in that incident, he couldn't help but smile a little at her somewhat panicked gesticulations.

"But I…..I should've asked for your contact information after the first or even second time we get together for this sort of thing! My lack of foresight is just…..urgh…..it makes me angry…..How can I make it up to you?"

"You, uh….you really don't h-have to do that."

"Yes I do! It's…." Mei sighed, her hand reaching up to readjust her goggles, only to remember that they were in a box under her bed in her dorm room. "Listen, you've been a great partner. An _amazing_ partner, despite having every reason to steer clear of me like the plague. Yet here you are…..with me."

"Hey, don't…..don't do that."

"What?"

"Self-deprecation. It's unbecoming of you. That's more my schtick. Plus, a smile suits you more."

"Um….thanks….I guess." She mumbled, "You too….." A pregnant silence hung on the roof as they stared down at the students leaving campus in droves. "So-o," her voice cracked, "is there, um…..something you wanted to work on?" Mei stole a glance at the boy who was going through his notebook which she had also scribbled in. The front cover had usual title of _Support Items For The Future_ but with the number two on it, and in parentheses had the words _feat. Mei Hatsume_ underneath, with dozens of post-it notes jutting out from the pages.

"Actually…..yeah. It's, uh…..they're not going to be easy though. Even if we do have most of the things."

"What?" Izuku slowly turned the page of his notebook to the very end and handed it over to her. She turned to the next page. Then the next, and the next, each new drawing and schematics widening her eyes and smile more and more with awe and excitement. "Oh….sweet…..Amedei Porcelana."

"It's….I-I know it's stretching things a bit too far, but I figured if you-we're working on things that would benefit both heroes and police officers, this would be a good place to start, so――"

"Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes! Yes, let's freaking do this. _Now._ " She clapped her hands together, jumping in place. "Right _now!_ "

"I'm afraid you're going to have to put that off for a while, Mei-by." Hearing a familiar affectionate nickname that only two people use, the gadgeteer's smile froze, her eyes widening not in excitement, but in alarm and petrified fear. Turning her head ever so slowly, she saw a familiar figure at the door. It was a bespectacled woman slightly taller than her, with a mature build. She wore a black tanktop and tan coveralls with its sleeves tied around her waist that were thoroughly sullied with grease, soot and god-knows-what-else, and a lab coat. While she sported a thin smile on her lips, her grayish eyes had a slightly stern look. "You do have an appointment to catch."

The word 'appointment' was more than enough to galvanize Mei into action, who hid behind Izuku with lightning speed, utterly baffling the freckle-faced teen as for his next action. "Um….what…..uh?"

"Midoriya, use your Quirk and get us outta here, we're still on campus so it's legal and you have your provisionary license and this is an emergency!"

"Wai-I…what? Why?"

" _Hurry!_ She's trying to kill me!"

"Mei-by, we've been over this since your first appointment in elementary school with the dent――"

"DON'T! SAY! THAT WORD!" Mei screamed, gripping the back of Izuku's school uniform in a death grip, pushing him towards the woman like a shield. "I am _not_ going and you will _not_ make me!"

"You are and I will," the woman deadpanned, placing a finger on the side of her glasses. "Because I value your health and I am your mother." From within the folds of her lab coat, two pairs of floating mechanical hands emerged, letting out a small whine as they flexed their fingers.

"Moth- _what?!_ That's your mom?!" It wasn't hard for Izuku to see the family resemblance upon closer inspection. The woman was a brunette with hair that fell down to her shoulders in the same dreadlock-esque ringlets that Mei sported tied in a ponytail at the back. There were two utility belts visible under her lab coat around her waist and a bandolier holding various canisters, capsules and tools.

"Yes, name's Nariko Hatsume. The pink-haired petulant one using you as a meat shield is the personification of my supernal pride and joy. How do you know each other, by the way? Because I know for a fact that he is not in the Support Course."

"Oh, uh, I-I'm, that-uh….." A cold drop of sweat trickled down Izuku's chin. A gust of wind lifted her lab coat, also revealing for a split second a holster under her arm housing what looked to be a rather large handgun-shaped gadget, which she no doubt trained extensively in its use. "We….were teammates during the Sports Festival, and she's been making some support items for me. A-and I'm a, um, freshman in the Hero Course, so I believe that's why….ma'am."

"Ah." Nariko nodded. "Now I remember. You're the ten million pointer my daughter blasted into the wall recently?" Izuku felt the grip on his blazer tighten.

"Um…..yes, but it wasn't intentional. It was….just an honest mistake that could've happened to anybody――" A raised hand from Nariko was all it took to shut Izuku up before he could say anything further.

"No need to explain further, you're not the first to get caught in a blast she caused, and certainly not the last." Bending from the waist, she bowed her head. "I'd like to extend my overdue apologies. Mei-by is a genius in her own right just like me and my husband, but for better and for worse, she takes after my artistically superior half. I know Higari already banned you from the studio, so I won't chew you out any further, but that will change unless you come with me. Right now."

Izuku could feel the vibrations of Mei's violent trembling and the irregular breathing, instinctively grasping for her hand. "Um, I….would it be…may I accompany her?"

Nariko's left brow rose, a set of mechanical arms floating an arm's length from the boy's face. "What for?"

"I-well, clearly sh-she doesn't have god memories a-about the dentist, and I can relate to that, and I figured some form of moral support would….ease up on the anticipation. About eighty percent of sensory information comes from visual acquisition, and the mouth is not a place one can see without a mirror, and the sound and feeling of a drill grinding against bone is not the most comforting thing in the world, so I figured I could act as a-a placebo anesthesia…..Or thereabouts?"

"Mei-by, will you come without a fuss if he's there?" Mei slowly raised a thumbs-up above Izuku's shoulder. "Very well then."

* * *

Izuku never thought he'd feel _that_ amount of pain at a dentist's office with Mei crushing his hand in hers while the dental hygienist worked on her teeth, letting out a screech rivaling the drill. Though they did apply anesthetic to the points to operate on, Nariko's mechanical hands had to hold her legs and left arm down to prevent Mei from flailing around. In a matter of about thirty minutes, the procedure ended and the Hatsume matriarch ushered the children to her black BMW sports sedan.

"Th-that wasn't so bad, r-right?" Izuku asked tentatively, but received no response from Mei who simply hugged her knees at the backseat.

"Well, now that the errand is out of the way, Mr. Ten Million," Nariko began as she pulled out of the parking lot without even glancing backwards, "here's a question for you: say I'm a police detective and i want to make body armor that looks like a business suit for everyday use. How would you go about it and what would you use?"

"I…um, Mrs. Hatsume, I'm not an expert in textile terminal ballistics. I-I honestly doubt that my proposition would be of any use."

"It's just a question. Humor me."

"U-um….okay then…H-How much can I spend?"

"For the sake of convenience, as much as you want. Go crazy."

"Mmm….then I'm going with a three piece style, first off. Uh, the jacket will be woven with Kevlar on the outside, lined with silicon carbide disks, with….um, oh, ceramic matrices, accompanied laminate. It'll be like scale armor, making it more flexible to move in even with the jacket on, making it resistant to both bullets and sharp objects. Oh, and fire too, to an extent. Next up is a vest, also Kevlar, but lined with magnetorheological fluid if the first layer doesn't block it, and it'll hold up against certain amounts of blunt force trauma. It'll be a little heavier than a regular suit, but not to the point it'll cause discomfort…..at least to my knowledge." Izuku took a breath, wiping his clammy hands on his pants. "That's as far as I can go on the fly."

Nariko smiled, unbeknownst to Izuku. "Hm. Alright, here's another one for you: what are your intentions with my daughter?"

" _MOM!_ " Mei shouted, kicking the driver seat from behind.

"I-wha…my inte-I….I-I-I'm sorry, what? I…we-we're not――"

"We're _not_ like that! Midoriya's….he's….a-a coworker! Colleagues! Yeah. Like you and dad. At the lab! There's nothing…I-how could you even _insinuate_ _――_ "

Nariko chuckled softly as the two flabbergasted teens continued to trip over their words, rendering their rebuttal utterly incoherent. "Right." The car soon pulled up in front of Mei's dormitory, where she hastily left, hiding her face which was turning into a shade of pink deeper than her hair. "Midoriya."

"Y-yes?" Izuku froze, bracing himself to get shot or at least punched with the floating hands.

"Higari told me that you didn't want to press charges or anything after almost losing an eye. And honestly, I'm at a bit of a quandary as to deducing why that is."

"I…um, I-not t-to _brag_ about being…you know, virtuous or anything, but I'm not exactly the vindictive type."

Nariko snorted. "That much is self-evident. You come off as a bit of a pushover too."

"Mm….not inaccurate….." He mumbled.

"Mei-by is a bit…..manipulative, like me. Especially when it comes to advertising product, but she knows there are boundaries. When people get hurt around her and she believes it's her fault or she could've stopped it, she tends to…"

"Take it very personally." Izuku finished.

"Exactly. I've asked Higari to watch her back as a favor since she got into Yuuei, but apparently it isn't enough. You seem to have each foot in both the Support and Heroics Course with a relatively good head on your shoulders, so….can I count on you to watch her back as well? As her friend?"

"I-I'd be…y-I-yes, but…..but wha-why me? Wouldn't you be worried about…a-a boy doing this?"

The temperature in the car suddenly dropped. "She's my only baby, that premise is axiomatic. And to answer your question: on one hand, you're a victim of my daughter's mishap which by default frees you from any obligation to have anything to do with her. On the other hand, it's clear to me you're not talking out of your ass when it comes to tech and you're a pushover that can't really say no in terms of helping people. So if you're not in a position to refuse, all the better. Plus I honestly doubt you'd be the kind to…..put the moves on her, as it were."

"Put th-wha-no! I-I wouldn't _dare_ do――but yes, I will have her back if need be, ma'am."

"Good. And drop the 'ma'am'. It makes me feel old. I'm only forty-one."

" _Only?_ " Izuku parroted in disbelief. "You…y-you look far too young to be at that age." Whatever Nariko had been doing to herself, she appeared to only be in her early to mid-thirties, if not younger.

"No need to flatter me, but thank you. Now go placate her with the stuff in the trunk, she tends to get a bit cranky after going to the dentist."

"Right."

"And in case you do decide to put the moves on her: my husband's a better shot than I am."

* * *

"So, um…..that was your mom, huh?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." Mei replied, her voice muffled with a cushion on the couch that she buried her face in. "And don't you dare tell anyone about the doctor-whose-profession-shall-not-be-voiced."

"Don't worry, I won't. Also, she gave me this to….placate you." Izuku indicated to three rather large cardboard boxes stacked on top of the coffee table of class F's common room. "Her choice of words, not mine."

"You could just…..leave them there. I'll bring them up to my room."

"Okay." They sat in silence for a while longer, both of them fidgeting around every few minutes. The clock on the wall ticking the seconds away was louder than they remembered a clock could be.

"So-o," Mei broke the silence, unable to bear the inordinately awkward atmosphere, "you were….in there for an awful long time. Feel like sharing?"

"Oh, um…well, nothing serious," Izuku answered a little too quickly, "she just wanted to know a little more about me and t-to…..to watch your back. As a friend."

"I see….."

"I, um….I have a study session that I have to go to with my friends in class, so….I'll see you tomorrow, maybe? Hopefully?"

"Yeah. Sure….Tomorrow." Hearing his answer, Mei couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness at that word. Friend. But as she waved Izuku off, there was also an unmistakable warmth in her right hand that he took in his own. She could still remember the roughness of his palm, his callouses, and the scars. Bringing that still-fresh memory forth, she absentmindedly brought it to her chest, pressing her knuckles against herself.


	7. A Pipin' Hot Mess

Since I didn't do it last time, here's Nariko Hatsume's Quirk, introduced Present Mic style

Nariko Hatsume. Quirk: Parallel Operation

She is able to perform multiple high-level cognitive tasks simultaneously with assistant drone-hands! But her performance level is based on her health and the amount of sugar in her system, so recharging and knowing the TPO to perform the maximum of ten tasks is a must, or else she will suffer severe hypoglycemia!

* * *

Mei gripped his hand tightly, running her thumb across his palm. They were rough hands; rugged, scarred, but well-conditioned. Pressing it into the side of her face, she breathed a sigh of relief. The warmth was gentle, more comforting, unlike an acetylene torch or plasma cutter. Her hands traced the back of his hand, going up to his toned arms, shoulders, and up to the neck, all slightly damp with sweat. His hair was ruggedly scruffy and covered in soot like he'd spent a week in front of a coke-fueled furnace. Fumbling around, she undid the leather apron which fell in a heap on the ground.

Slowly looking up, his face, or part of it, came into view: a regular angled jawline, freckled cheeks, and a small but straight nose. They were all she could see, but familiar enough to know who they belonged to. It was followed by a set of slightly puffy lips pulled into a smile which rapidly closed in and crashed into her own. He tasted like a s'more that was slightly overcooked. His hands traveled across her back, gently tugging her arms out of the coveralls' sleeves. She obliged him, pulling her arms free from the fabric and tugged his head down to her eye level. He retaliated by gently running his thumb along her ear, making her gasp, buckling her knees.

As Mei stood on her toes and clamped the back of his neck in the crook of her arm in an effort to deepen the kiss, white-hot flames leapt from her body, and she immediately smelled something burning. Hair. Flesh. Eyes snapping open, she frantically pushed back, lest he suffer severe burns to his body. But he wouldn't let go. In fact, she felt his arms tighten around her back, lifting her, her toes just out of reach from the floor.

The flames soon engulfed both of them, the sheer white radiance blinding Mei's eyes shut. She could do nothing except continue kissing him. And by _god_ , he seemed to know exactly how to do it even while seizing up and fighting through severe pain, but never loosening his embrace and deepening the kiss even further, which she reciprocated with fear, joy, hunger and ferocity――until she found herself on a bed.

She looked around frantically, only to see that she was in her room at the dormitory, her leg hanging off the edge. The boxes Nariko brought for her were on her desk. She stood up, her shirt drenched in sweat. Her sweatpants were also damp, though some of it had permeated through her sweatpants and was trickling down her thighs. "Ah!? Wha-!? What…..the _fuck?_ " This was about the third wet dream she's had since her mother took her to the dentist's appointment.

Stripping out of her wet clothes, she threw on a bathrobe and sped off to the showers. She needed another shower. A longer one. A colder one. "What the hell….?" Dreaming about sharing an intimate moment with someone familiar to her while she spontaneously combusted could be written off as pure happenstance, at least for the first time. Twice, a coincidence, but still plausibly deniable. A third time, however, required some serious introspection.

The question was simple: did she have a crush? On him?

Crush: an intense, unilateral attraction to another individual who has no knowledge of it.

Known symptoms include: irregular heart palpitations, excessive perspiration, spike in blood pressure, norepinephrine, estrogen, and long lasting thoughts of the individual. All of which had been happening quite regularly as of recent.

Her parents had already given her "the talk" about the birds and the bees well before junior high, so she certainly did possess the pertinent information, but she never really paid much attention to it unless it had some relation to the creation, maintenance, or improvement of her gadgets. And it was coming to bite her in the ass, right on the day the ban from the design studio was going to be lifted, no less.

As the cold water continued to fall on her and roll off the generous curves of her body, she sat down and hugged her knees to herself with one arm. The other hand wandered to her lips, to that dream. That tall…..someone she knew. Kissing. Kissing _her_.

* * *

"Soooo, Midoriya. About the update…."

"Whatever you're thinking hasn't and won't happen, Kaminari. All that happened last week was that I met her mom."

"Met her-what the shit?!" Kaminari exclaimed with an incredulous look. " _Already?!_ "

"W-Wrong context!" Izuku replied quickly, realizing the mental picture that went through his mind. "She was just here to pick Hatsume up for an errand, that's all!"

"Oh. Oh, phew…..sorry, I just assumed….never mind. And by the way, what the hell is this thing? It looks like you attached two mechanical bongs to a food processer welded onto a washing machine that has a solar panel."

"Oh, this was actually a project that someone from Class H scrapped. I asked Mr. Power Loader if I could repurpose and reuse it. It's a polyethylene fuel converter. I took a look at the chemical composition of polyethylene and realized that it's basically a long gasoline molecule with a couple hydrocarbons chopped off, so I figured synthesizing it shouldn't be too hard through solar-powered pyrolysis."

"Uh, in layman terms, please, Dr. Midoriya?"

"It converts most plastics from grocery bags to bottle caps used every day into combustible fuel."

"And….it works?"

"Yeah, pretty well for a prototype. I just need to clean the filters out after every ten to twelve times and switch it off for about thirty minutes so the circuits don't get fried, but it works pretty well. Once you fill this all the way with plastic, it'll be enough to fuel a regular sedan. I've tried it with an old leaf blower, a moped, and a lawn mower, and it's worked out pretty well so far. If I refine it more, I could probably make aviation fuel."

Kaminari laughed softly in awe. "Damn dude, you could build your own oil industry and retire. And I get the distinct impression you're trying to impress a certain someone with this."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, stop playing dumb."

"No, seriously. I-I don't- I don't know what you're talking about."

Kaminari stared at Izuku, hard. And to his surprise, the green-haired teen known for being very bad at lying when put on the spot looked genuinely confused. "Okay, well…..what I'm saying is, it seems like you're trying to impress Hatsume."

"Impre-really? I don't….this was just a-a thing that I thought would come in handy for free fuel while cleaning the environment up. Small scale, but it's still something. My mom has a car, but she doesn't really use it because gas prices are pretty high, but a hybrid car that's second had these days is ridiculously expensive so I figured this would ease her burden, among other people's. Li-like refugee camps that have generators powered by gas."

"…..Alright, fine, I'll buy it. For now."

"Oh, and one more thing. I have a prototype Panzerblitz ready for you to test."

Kaminari's face lit up with surprise and glee. "No."

"Yup."

"No kidding?"

"Nope, I kid you not." Izuku revealed an open box, where a bulky black gauntlet was waiting, divided into a metallic glove and a sleeve that covered most of the forearm. Six rectangular cuboids circled the sleeve, and the palm and fingertips had circular ports in the center. Undoing the latches, he motioned Kaminari closer. "Try it on."

"O-kay…..oooh." Kaminari grunted as it had a surprising amount of heft. "Pretty heavy. But I am diggin' the design. Refresh my memory as to what it does?"

"Sure. It's basically a rechargeable taser and AED, the voltage is adjustable depending on the number of fingers you use. There was something I was able to add on though. Fold your middle and ring finger in."

"Middle and- _whoa!_ " A ten centimeter-long blade extended from the back of the hand with a click. "It definitely is cool, but why the extra sharp-n'-stabby gimmick?"

"That blade is laced with carbon nanotubes to channel thermal energy converted from electricity from either the battery or you. You need to keep holding the button on the palm down and it takes a bit to warm up, but once it's up and running, this can cut a hole in reinforced steel doors――Or at least its hinges and locks with the limited size and all――if a breach is necessary."

"Alrighty, I'll give it a whirl." Clamping his fingers down, the gauntlet began humming loudly as the electricity he channeled began heating up the blade. Within three minutes, the glowing orange blade was hot enough to cut through an armor plate of the faux-villain used in the entrance exam like butter. "Oh, hot _damn,_ Midoriya. I am _lovin'_ it! The Panzerblitz _rocks!_ "

"Now for the taser test. Use only one finger and just touch my hand."

"Wai-you're….you're going to test it on yourself?"

Sensing his classmate's obvious trepidation in the endeavor, Izuku gave him an inviting nod. "It's just one finger, it'll be as painful as a prank shock pen. I just need to know if it's working."

"Okay, here we go." Holding up his index finger which began glowing, Kaminari pressed it down on Izuku's forearm, causing him to yelp and jerk his hand back. "Well, it seems to be working."

"Yeah. For higher power output testing, you can ask Mr. Ectoplasm to get you some practice dummies. Just….try not to overuse it in a short period of time. The batteries could overheat which won't uh…..it won't end well."

"Sounds like a plan. Thanks! Imma go to the TDL to see what it can do!"

"Right. Make sure you write down what needs improvements later! I'm going to pass it over to Hatsume once she comes back!"

"I _knew_ it!"

"Wha-no! This is-it's meant to-I just wanna give her something to do now that she can finally come back into the Designing Studio!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what _you_ think!" Izuku huffed a sigh as his friend left the studio in a hurry, the fatigue bearing down on him finally bringing him to a grinding halt. He massaged his temples and leaned on the backrest of the chair. Time management and balancing training with studies was not difficult, but the introduction of a third variable made things surprisingly hard. But he had no intention of stopping, at least until he was sure that Mei could get back to her usual self. Either that or until Nariko Hatsume or her husband calls it off with a gun in hand.

But there is something that has been bothering him as of late. Mei Hatsume had been marked late one day and absent another. Mei Hatsume, whose creative drive is pathologically perpetual, was _not_ the first to be in class. The usual phone calls that turned into extended conversations of technology, gadgets, Pro Heroes and Quirks that happened at least three times a week were nonexistent for this week. Text replies were short, with a display of blatant effort to end the conversation as quickly as possible or completely ignored.

Perhaps she's mostly recovered from her trauma and get back to doing her work on her own? While she most likely (and hopefully) appreciated his help, Izuku ultimately was a student of a different department. Even if learning about how to fix and maintain one's own equipment is important, maybe she now finds his meddling in her affairs….bothersome? Off-putting? She was and always has been an independent worker, after all. It wouldn't be surprising, the first time, or the last to be thought of as such.

Maybe it was time to consider damage control and cut losses in the near future. Mei embodied the meaning of being a free spirit, and his presence probably was excess baggage if not straight up deadweight. Though it would be a little sad to not be able to work with her any further, he still hoped they could talk. As friends. He definitely was going to miss doing this with her. It gave him a place to fully stretch his legs out and flex his brain about things he knew. It was fun. _She_ made it fun.

Flipping through the notebook of potential gadgets for his classmates, he smiled, reading Mei's clearly superior penmanship in the margins full of last-minute calculations, design changes, addendums to his own writing, and even some random doodling of fractal patterns. As he continued going through each page, the fatigue pulled his eyelids down more and more. Before he knew it, he was lying face first in one of the pages opened, gently snoring.

It was at this precise moment the door to the Design Studio slowly opened with a telescoping mechanical appendage from the other side of the hallway. Mei breathed a sigh of relief as the door gave way without incident. Scanning the floor for any combustibles, she inched her way across the linoleum for a good five minutes before finally crossing the threshold to the room. The studio looked both bigger and smaller at the same time than she last saw it. It was welcoming but at the same time ushering her out with invisible hands to leave.

Taking deep breathes to keep a cool head, she found her partner in crime with his face in the workbench, snoring away. "Huh. So that's what it's looked like for him." Standing as far as it was physically possible from him without leaving the room, she zoomed in on the side of his face. It was a freckled face, plain as could be. But it was one that she'd grown to like. Somewhat.

After a while, her wandering gaze found its way to his lips. The s'more-flavored lips that stole a kiss from her. At least in the dream. But it felt so…..real. Lucid. Slightly puffy, well-shaped, and a little on the dry side, but not cracked. A healthy, warm, reddish color.

Mei's fingers found its way to her own lips, tracing them slowly. He certainly did smell like smoke which she could pick up even from this distance, which was no surprise for anyone who spends more than an hour in the studio. Would he taste like s'mores? Would he….pick her up off the floor?

The more her thoughts wandered the more the 'symptoms' rose to the surface, starting with heart palpitations that was borderline arrhythmia. Her throat was suddenly parched, followed by mild perspiration, though it was probably negligible considering the environment.

"Brrrrr!" Violently shaking her head out of the fog, Mei walked towards the leaning pile of her inventions, wondering what to improve, or combine to make something new. As she reached out to pluck the jetpack from the pile, her hand stopped.

Perhaps choosing something that _didn't_ use anything combustible would be in her best interests, like Baby #125: the Gecko Gloves Mark III, which allow the user to climb terrain without handholds like the outside of a skyscraper through emulating the gecko's feet and suction cups of cephalopods, though auxiliary adhesion is applied through a cocktail of biodegradable solutions and electromagnets for other surfaces. The only problem was that the primary source of adhesion barely lasted ten minutes, which was about the maximum amount of time optimal for a single bout of kissing to end――"Nope. Nope-nope-nope-nope, so much nope." Something else.

Baby #208: the pressurized gas-powered Wire Arrow Harness, capable of firing a pair of anchors with arrow heads attached to thirty meters of composite steel cables that have a monofilament interwoven into it, with nearly two hundred kilograms of tensile strength, and a motorized winch. Paired with the Hover Soles, it would add quite an edge to maneuverability, much like Midoriya with his Type Gamma costume who gushed unreserved words of gratitude—"No! No, focus. Focus, goshdoggoneit, focus!"

"Focus on what?"

"On――oh….um, h-hey, Midoriya."

"How long was I out?"

"Fifteen minutes or so, give or take another five? Not that long. I-wha-what are you….doing here?"

"Oh, me? I-I was just….uh, you know, finalizing an idea that I had which I haven't the faintest clue as to how I'm going to get it off the ground, but I just thought I might let it rattle around in my head a little more. Do you want this? I'm fairly confident you haven't eaten anything this entire day." He fished a protein bar out of his big yellow backpack.

"I'm not, uh…." Oh, how she wanted to say no. But her hand snapped it out of his grip like a cobra strike. After all, it was chocolate brownie flavored, axiomatically one of the best flavors to exist of any packaged consumable in existence. Chomping down on it with a satisfied grin, she gave him a muffled 'thank you' through chewing.

"Um…..where'd your goggles go, by the way? I thought you'd have them with you since the ban's lifted. They didn't break, did they?"

"Hm? Oh, um….they, uh….." They were still intact, thankfully, and perfectly in good condition to use. The truth was she had left them in her room at the dormitories. "I just….I didn't feel like putting 'em on yet."

"Would you prefer a replacement? Glasses like your mom, maybe?"

"Ew, no!" Mei chuckled. "Glasses are so _basic_. And I have twenty-twenty vision, thank you very much."

Izuku had to laugh at that. He never thought there would be a day to hear glasses be described as such. "So….wanna make something?"

"M-maybe….maybe not today….Oh, but um….I uh, I recalibrated these." She walked up to one of the cabinets and pulled the weights out. "It may not look that different from the outside, but it's calibrated for your weight and height."

"Oh, great! Thank you so much!" And there it was. His million watt smile, eliciting a spike in body temperature, blood pressure, norepinephrine, and estrogen in her. While it was unwise to assume, in this instance it was probably safe to say from an objective standpoint that she, Mei Hatsume, has a crush on this nerdy-blooming-gadgeteer-hero-to-be.

And it set off a brain-busting cornucopia of emotions that her brain couldn't possibly compute.


	8. Showboating And Its Perks

Good morrow, readers and writers. I managed to crank out one more chapter before the year ends. Happy end of 2019 to you all, and I wish you all the best in 2020.

As always, I own nothing except this here fic.

* * *

"You….you want to go work out?" Izuku double-checked. While he certainly had no problem at all doing this, it most certainly was not something he was expecting to hear from Mei Hatsume, someone who equated invention to breathing, sleeping, and eating.

"Yeah. Well, I also need to make sure the weights don't cost you an arm and a leg, literally."

"It…..I mean, okay. But I already used them after I went back to my room, and there was nothing wrong, so…."

"Jus-I'm double-checking, okay!? _I'm_ the one in the Support Course!"

"O-okay, sure. Whatever floats your boat."

The entrance of the weight room was separated by the same barrier-free doors installed in the classrooms, and students from both 1-A and 1-B were there, doing their routine. Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were competing how much they could squat while Shouji spotted them; Yaoyorozu sat with her legs crossed, maintaining her balance on top of a ball; Ashido and Asui were in the midst of calisthenics; Todoroki was on his second bout with the salmon ladder; Kaminari was doing pull-ups, though his chest was heaving and he was hanging from the bar by his fingertips. He dropped to the floor as soon as he saw Izuku walk in. "Yo, Midoriya!"

"Hey guys." Izuku gave him a small wave, though he casually cast his eyes away from the girls wearing their own gym attire, some of which were rather generous in the amount of exposed skin.

"Oh, hey! You brought a new one!" Ashido squealed gleefully upon seeing Mei behind him in gym clothes.

"Ribbit. She's the one that used Iida as her own advertising billboard. Hatsume, right?"

"Yup that's me! And you're…never mind, I don't know any of your names." After a brief back-and-forth of (what may be pointless) introductions, everyone went back to their regimen.

Izuku began his own full-body calisthenics after some light aerobic exercise. Moving onto the lat-pulldown machine, he calibrated its resistance to be painful but manageable. "Kaminari, you mind coming over here?"

"Wha-dude, no. No, no more arm stuff, please…."

"I just want to talk, you can cool down and stretch."

"Oh thank god…." Breathing a sigh of relief, Kaminari slowly shuffled over to him, his arms dangling somewhat uselessly by his sides. "So….care to explain why you brought her over?"

Izuku shrugged, "She wanted to work out, and today's leg day for me, so….."

"So you brought her over to show her off to us. Right."

"Wha, _no!_ " Izuku frowned slightly. "Show-see, it's words like those that make Jirou deem it necessary to stab you with her earphone jacks. We're not-nothing happened."

" _Yet_. Face it, Midoriya, you feel something towards Hatsume. Why else would you be spending so much time with her outside of class? And don't say because knowing how to maintain your own equipment is common sense, because one, that excuse is running out of steam; two, that rationality schtick is Mr. Aizawa's. And three, you work on making other people's equipment too, which renders reason one a moot point. And yet you manage to balance your life out. I don't know how you do it."

"Time management comes with practice." Izuku knew this, especially because of the ten months of hell he had to endure before he could even sculpt his body to take on One For All. "And it's not like there isn't a strain on my wellbeing. I haven't had that much sleep after the….incident." Finishing up with the machine, he wiped it down and moved on to the free weights.

"Well, try not to turn into Mr. Aizawa. In the interest of your health." Picking up a kettle bell in each hand, Izuku began jumping lunges, taking care to not land flat on his feet. The familiar and almost nostalgic burn of his calves and quadriceps felt welcoming. It helped him think, or simply tune everything else out.

"Hot damn! You go, Hatsume! Show them gains!" That is, until after around the end of his third set Ashido's whooping cheer made him turn his head. There, on the salmon ladder was his pink-haired gearhead partner, bringing the bar down one rung at a time in sweatpants and a tanktop.

"Damn. I'd probably fall off and break my neck on that thing. How'd you think you'd fare on that, Midoriya? Midoriya?" But Izuku had tuned Kaminari out, for an entirely different reason. The ease with which she pulled herself up to hook the bar on to the next rung, then another, and another was a sight to behold. He never really paid much attention to how _firm_ her body was. Though it's not like it was unexpected. She experiments with her inventions on her own, so a relatively high level of athleticism was a natural prerequisite.

Mei was slightly shorter than Izuku who by standards of a non-mutation type Quirk user was a little below average, but she didn't let that fetter or even faze her. She was like a well-oiled and maintained machine herself. Not to mention she filled her tanktop and gym shorts quite generously. The sweat rolling down her glistening bare skin immediately brought his mind back to the beach when they were taking a break. She wasn't just beautiful. She was…..sexy. Someone who inspired amazement…..and _arousal_ within him. A healthy dose of it.

"Dude!"

"Gah?! Wha-what?!"

"I've called your name at least a dozen times, man." Kaminari chuckled like a father who knew who his son's crush was by the way his gaze followed them. "You were totally checking her out. I mean, I don't blame you as one hormonal teenager to another, but…..be a bit more subtle? For your sake?"

He needed to free himself of such thoughts about his _platonic_ partner. Besides, it had been merely a day since Mei's mother asked him to watch her back as a friend, keep things professional, and _not_ 'put the moves on her.' He couldn't bring himself to betray her trust――or anyone else's, for that matter――since he did _not_ want to catch a bullet and it would go against everything he wished to be. Quickly glancing around the gym, he saw Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were now trying to have a contest of endurance in the plank position. "I….I-I'm going to go join Kirishima and Tetsutetsu."

"I thought you said today was leg day." Kaminari retorted with a sly grin.

"Core's connected to the legs, shaddup!"

Mei felt like her face was bar of metal placed in a furnace. She was being checked out. _Izuku Midoriya had been checking her out_. Of course, there were more than a single pair of eyes on her, that much was certain. Since she apparently has a crush on him, at least according to the arbitrary Crush Criteria Checklist, his visual confirmation and maintained gaze of her retreating figure would explain the tingling sensation that ran up from her tailbone to the back of her neck.

And it felt _good_. There was no sugarcoating it. She'd shown off plenty of times with her inventions, each occasion and success more thirst-quenching than the last, but this――it was a different brand, a different taste, of exhilaration altogether. It was more….. _primal_. It was an unconscious challenge: impress me and grab my attention, if you dare.

Dropping down from the bar and giving the girls who cheered for her a bow, she quickly glanced towards Izuku, and their eyes locked onto each other, though with a look of fear and guilt――something Mei had recently gotten very intimately acquainted with――he broke eye contact to join the two doing the plank. But his face was unmistakably red. And it was clear part of it had to do with something other than the strain of the exercise.

"Midoriya, this is something I only know through word of mouth, but….is it true you can do a lap on the salmon ladder with one arm?" Izuku's head jerked up at Kaminari's words.

"Yup, I've seen him do it." Kirishima grunted through gritted teeth, his arms trembling from the strain.

"One arm to get up, other arm to get down, to be more s-specific…." Tetsutetsu growled, exhaling slowly through gritted teeth.

Mei's ear perked up at this question. Could he really? Oh, who was she kidding, he trained as much as she invented! _Of course_ he could! Only _he_ would try something that ridiculous! And succeed! "Anybody wanna see him do it?"

All of the boys except Izuku raised their hands at Kaminari's question, Todoroki included. "Wha-no, guys, come on, it's leg day for me, I can't break routine――"

"Dude, please. It's just one lap, but now that we've heard this, we need to see it to believe it. I will rack whatever weights you want during training for the rest of the year if you pull it off. Come on." Kirishima begged.

"Same." Tetsutetsu nodded.

"Asui, will you please talk some sense int-why is your hand up?"

"Genuine interest of how it pans out. But I do have every bit of faith in you to pull it off. Besides, I'm not the only girl who wants to see. Ribbit." She looked towards Ashido who was just grinning silently, whose eyes were stealing glances at Mei who _also_ had her hand up.

"Todoroki….."

"…I'll buy you lunch for tomorrow if you do it."

The way was shut. Defeated, Izuku walked up to the salmon ladder as the gallery cheered him on. Limbering his shoulders up a bit, he jumped up to grab the bar with his left hand. In one swift motion, he pulled himself up and hooked the bar onto the next rung. Though he took a quick break in the space of two to three breaths from time to time, he reached the top with moderate difficulty.

"Oh, holy crap. That is some manly shit." Kirishima looked up in awe.

Tetsutetsu nodded in agreement. "So manly."

Switching to his right arm, Izuku then brought the bar down one rung at a time until reaching the bottom and landing on one knee, earning him a standing ovation from everyone.

A low, throaty "Oh damn," left Mei's lips. While she had every bit of confidence that he could pull it off, She still remembered how lean and toned his body was. And that dream. God, that _dream_. No matter how she spun it Compared to that time, he seemed bigger. But actually seeing his body in action up close like this was….beautiful. And almost cathartic, like seeing a highly customized support item in action _after_ being explained what it does.

The only problem was she didn't know which part of him to admire first. He had a cute face, like a puppy. Him scrunching it up in concentration made it even better. The natural contours of his toned body were something that no machine in existence could replicate. What a machine could do was…..plain; less open to interpretation. Izuku's body, however, was supple, flexible, working in unison, completely under his control. That paired with his brain meant one thing: whether he knew it or not, Izuku Midoriya was fucking _hot._

There was a sudden taste of iron in her mouth yet again, and it took a minute and two people pointing out that she had broken some of the skin of her lower lip while watching him.

* * *

"I….didn't know you were that athletic." Izuku mumbled as he, his classmates and Mei walked back in small droves. "It was….impressive."

She shrugged, though there was an unmistakable warmth she felt in her stomach at his words. "My mom insists on staying in shape. As far as she's concerned anyone who can't run at least ten kilometers is unfit to make or experiment with anything. She basically whipped my dad into shape with a two-hour regimen every five days of the week."

"She certainly was an amazing person. By the way, what were those mecha-hand….thingies?"

"Oh, those are brainwave-controlled drones that she uses to help her multitask. I've seen it lift a car so she could fix a flat tire. And it packs a punch."

"That….sounds amazing. Explains where that brain of yours comes from."

"She's only _one_ of the two sources, mind you. My dad-Oh, I almost forgot!" Mei dug her hand into her bag and pulled out a protein bar. "Fresh off the school store aisle. Judging by the way you packed it, I figured it was the last one you had. You….you liked this kind, right? Chocolate chip brownie?"

"Yeah. A-are you sure?"

"J-just…Take it before I change my mind." She muttered, waving it in front of him in an effort to tease and entice him like it were a dog treat.

He reached out to slowly pinch the protein bar out of her grasp. "Thank you so much! I actually get really hungry after that, and I need every bit of energy I can get. You just saved my stomach."

At that moment, the seven hours of sleep Izuku insisted she take every day waved goodbye, his visage of this afternoon forever burned into her memory.


	9. Dad The Mad-Lad

Happy 2020 to you all. I trust your New Year is being spent however you wish. Here I am with chapter 9. And as the title infers, you get to meet Daddy Hatsume.

Quick note: the canon states Mei's birthplace as Kyoto, and there is a part where she has an accent slip. Bringing voices and accents from another language to life in English through written words is a bit tricky, so just as a reference, I want you to imagine the Kansai dialect and Kyoto accent as a mix of received pronunciation slightly heightened and the Brummie accent from Birmingham.

* * *

Izuku felt his legs turn into jelly, unable to support his upper body weight, falling flat on his ass with his back against the wall of the Design Studio. Straddling his lap was a petite girl in coveralls, though her figure that he could feel through each other's clothing was anything _but_ petite. She smelled like something fresh out of the oven, the intoxicating aroma of coffee and burnt chocolate filling his lungs with every breath. Her fingertips ruffled his hair, massaging his scalp while her lips lightly pressed against his forehead. She whispered him things, though they were in incomprehensible tongues.

But it didn't matter. This girl's very presence made every vein in his body pulse with base hunger and pleasure. It made him whimper. Or was it a growl? It didn't matter, because it felt _amazing_. Her hands felt like they were melting his brain, and they could've leaked out of his ears for all he cared. His hands found its way around her waist, resting on the small of her back, pulling her closer. She reciprocated, giggling as her hands twisted Izuku's hair in her fingers. There was this playful, endearing expression of rebuke akin to one cast towards a spoiled pet, longing to be indulged further.

He gave her a hopeful glance, and soon felt his face nestled in her generously revealed cleavage thanks to the low-cut tanktop she was wearing. More whispers and more scalp-kneading followed, coaxing the heat in his gut to travel lower. This was utter _heaven._

Soon, another whisper in tongues tickled Izuku's ear. It was a single word, a word of permission, of admission, for further intimacy. Tracing her arms up to her shoulder, he gently pulled the straps down her arm, freeing them, baring her naked body for him to see, a look of pride and sultry smugness curling her lips. She in turn tore the shirt off his body, the smile now a face-splitting grin of a predator. Her hands closed around his face. God, her lips looked ripe as――

" _Ow!_ " The familiar walls and ceiling festooned with All Might memorabilia snapped into view. "Whe-what….." He was breathing hard, his manhood pulsing harder still at that dream. A lucid, _wet_ dream. With him and a girl in coveralls at UA's Design Studio. It most certainly was a pleasant dream, and it ended right as the kiss was about to happen, leaving him frustrated and embarrassed. The alarm clock with All Might's antennae-like hair acting as the hands pointed 5:38 in the morning. Wasting no time, he grabbed a towel and headed for the showers, muttering primary numbers in order under his breath.

There was no way he could go to sleep after that dream.

* * *

"Today's class…..will become a joint study with Class A and will be taught by a guest lecturer." Power Loader began. "Very few are gifted enough to make it as a freelance inventor of support items. Most of you will work at a company, others may work for a specific agency as their exclusive mechanic, go on to further your education at a college or even I-Island, or maybe even go on to teach the know-hows that you pick up here." He paused, his eyes unbeknownst to his students flicking to the door leading to the hallway uncomfortably. "But for any of that to happen, you need to brush up on your observation skills of Quirks held by Pro Heroes and semi-pros with provisional licenses, which is what you'll be working towards today. Take notes on what they can do, both with and without their Quirks as well as the support items they're currently packing. Now I'd like you to draw your attention to the files on each of your desks. Go ahead and open them up."

Mei's lips immediately curled into a smile as she found a school ID photo of her freckle-faced partner in crime. She silently thanked her teacher for the consideration with a slow nod towards him.

One of the students raised their hand. "What exactly are we supposed to do with these people, sir?"

"That's where our guest lecturer comes in. Whenever you're ready." But there was no answer and the large, barrier-free door remained shut. Another ten seconds passed in silence. Power Loader walked up to the door to open it, only to find an empty hallway. "Wai-what….?"

The air shimmered a pale blue, the light forming an outline of a humanoid figure, eventually revealing a man with magenta-colored hair in beaded dreadlocks, whose attire looked like a cross between an infantry soldier and a mechanic. He was wearing a black field cap, an olive-drab boiler suit with a hexagonal pattern and combat boots. Bandolier-shaped tool belts were slung across his chest, and another around his waist.

His heterochromatic eyes of yellow and red scanned the room, the monocle on his left eye telescoping in and out every so often and his mechanical right hand whirred, both of which had a gothic, steampunk aesthetic. "Morning, ladies, gentlemen, and those in between. My name is Akito Hatsume and I will be teaching you for a while. Pleasure to meet you all. And to answer your question, Ms….?"

"Hana. Hana Bansen."

"Well, Ms. Bansen, I simply wish to broaden your perception of what it means to be working with a hero. Some of you may think it only requires long hours toiling away tirelessly in a lab to perfect whatever project you're assigned. And it can be, but not necessarily. If Power Loader has yet to tell you, allow me to tell you now: _strike that assumption from your mind_. _Immediately_ , if you value your lives." The sudden spike in his voice made many of the students sit up straighter than a y-axis. Turning to the board, he picked up a piece of chalk and began writing.

"As you all know, Heroes are targets. Their families are targets. Their coworkers, meaning you, are also targets. And I want you to know, Heroes won't always come to save you in the nick of time, which is why you all require preparation to save yourselves and others in a sudden crisis. And who better to learn from than your own peers? For the next week starting tomorrow, you will work with the people in the photos, learn from them, and teach them a thing or two about what you do and exactly how _capable_ ――and thereby _frightening_ ――you can be, when push comes to shove." He clapped his hands together, grinning from ear to ear, motioning the students to the door. "Now then, let's move onto the studio. I'm sure you've all made amazing things, prototypes and otherwise. My primary interest for this class is versatile antipersonnel babies. To the south, quick march! Single file! GO! GO! GO!" Chasing the students down with a chuffed laugh as he skipped down the hallway, Akito rapidly clapped his hands, but stopped when he realized Power Loader had yet to move.

"Akito, I….how's…" Power Loader bit the inside of his cheek as he inhaled. He was relieved that he had his costume on that day, the rectangular helmet shaped like an excavator claw hiding most of his face.

"I'm doing alright. Thanks for letting me do this on short notice." He bit back a yawn, rubbing his eye. "Oof, sorry. My internal clock is still on Munich time and customs was an absolute bitch to get through. So, I heard my little genius almost 'naded a kid in the face, but everything's still alright."

"Well, in the sense that both parties have no lasting injuries and nobody's pressing charges, yes. I called you, but it went to voicemail so I called Nariko. And I'm sorry that it happened under my watch. It shouldn't――"

"――Have happened in the first place, I know. She filled me in. I'll give Mei a talking-to as well. You needn't stress over it any further, unless you wanna go bald before you reach fifty." With a clap on the shoulder, he headed towards the Design Studio, pushing Power Loader from behind.

The place was already bustling with activity, the students building, rebuilding, advising, and arguing over various gadgets, blueprints, and calculations. Many of the machines were running at top gear, the cacophonous grinding, whirring, buzzing, and the chorus of barking instructions flying left and right.

"Any questions, comments, queries and conundrums, bring to your peers, and then to your teacher or me. You will have thirty minutes, and then we'll go test them out at the TDL." Picking a corner of the studio, Akito laid out his own set of small tools, pulling out a pair of pliers and a flathead screwdriver which he began using on his right arm, gently pulling the metallic plates that covered his arm off. Gears whirred and clicked with every movement of the wrist and fingers, the hand swiveling in a way no appendage of flesh and bone could be capable of. Its movement was smooth, as its master craned his neck to listen for anything irregular within the mechanism. Once he was satisfied, he quickly reassembled his arm with a satisfied smirk and turned his attention to the students bustling about.

He saw his daughter working on a pair of mechanical gloves while she had a harness on that was familiar. It was the one she used at the Sports Festival in conjunction with hover boots. A revolver-like gadget with a bell-shaped muzzle lay next to it. Like watching her mother at work, watching her keep herself busy was never boring. But there was something…. _off_ about her presentation. Her goggles. They were missing. He quickly moseyed over to her side. "Hey little genius."

"Hey, dad. Welcome back." She gave him a quick hug. "What do you think?"

"The design is certainly….different from your usual babies. What are these, again?"

"Flight stabilizers. Feet and arms that can do so would lessen accidents. Plus, I could add on some more things as I come up with them. And this is the new and improved capture gun. I overhauled the design for easier operation. It's modeled off a revolver and now holds eight shots, with some extra variations to the shells: standard capture net, a bean bag filled with lead shots, bird lime, phosphorous, and flechettes. I was thinking they could be dipped in a cocktail of tetracaine and bupivacaine. They're uh…..sensory and motor blocking agents to bring down….heftier villains. Super cute, right?"

Akito raised an eyebrow at the explanation of the flechette rounds. "Definitely. And who, pray tell, gave you that idea?" She was more a mechanic, someone who mostly worked on hardware and some software. While she most certainly knew more chemistry than any average high school freshman, she was not a chemical engineer. And yet her selection was…..some of the choicest.

"Oh, um…..a-a friend. A Partner. From another class." Mei's weight shifted from one foot to the other along with her gaze averting from her father's.

"Care to elaborate a little further, little genius?"

"An analytical savant of heroes and designing that's in the same grade as me. We've…..been working together every now and then."

"Hm, you don't say. And….this savant is in another class of the Support Course?"

"Mm-mm," Mei shook her head. "Heroics. Could you pass me those wire strippers?"

"Sure. Heroics, you say? And this student…..gave you the idea for the flechette shells? Does he have an intelligence-based Quirk?"

"Nope, strength-based. But it might as well be a Quirk on its own. You should see the headwind made so far. Here." Without even looking up from her work, Mei pointed towards the open notebook that was on the stool. Picking it up, Akito leafed through the pages, his scrunched brows rising higher and higher.

"Well, goodness gracious me. Nariko wasn't kidding. What 'n god's name is that partner of yours doing at Heroics?"

"H-hero stuff….." _And looking positively stunning while doing it_.

Akito's left eye signaled her rising body temperature as well as an elevating heartbeat.

* * *

Izuku had a puzzling look on his face as he stared at the text message from Mei, curtly asking him to meet at the TDL. Not much had changed since his last visit there, with rocky terrain shaped like skyscrapers surrounding the entire area as always. His partner was nowhere to be seen. Just as he was about to call her, another text came. Only two words were there: _Sorry. Dodge._ "Wha-holy smokes!" Just as Izuku had drawn his foot back, an arrow sank right where it was a split second ago, releasing thick smoke around him.

Immediately activating One For All, the warmth of its power enveloped him as he began to run for cover. Another arrow whizzed past his head and blasted a small chunk of the wall it hit. A mechanical whine from above instinctively had him pick up a rock, flinging it towards the source of the sound, but the projectile found no purchase.

Another barrage of bullets were fired upon him from an open flank by a drone, but Izuku tapped his fist, deploying a circular shield on his left arm. They kept them at bay as he fell back further. Finally finding some cover, he took a breath, quelling the questions boiling over in his mind. He needed to get out of here. Also, where was Mei?

This ambush was done using _her phone_. The realization was like someone broke a giant chunk of ice over his head. They had her. Growling in anger, Izuku raised the output of One For All, sprinting back towards the entrance of the training grounds. Another arrow came sailing through the air, but stopped right at his feet, this time loosening a blinding flash and a high-pitch screech that brought Izuku to his knees while he blindly groped his way out of the area, the temporary tinnitus making him stumble and lose his balance. As he leaned against the wall to find his way, he bumped into someone, raising his shield immediately.

Whoever it was took him by the shoulders and sat him down against the wall. Their voice was muffled and incomprehensible, but the pitch was high enough that he could discern it belonged to a girl. "Wait, no! Don't! You'll get shot!"

The girl replied, again with muffled words. His vision slowly returned to see a pink-haired girl in the wire arrow harness, hover boots, flight stabilizers and holding what appeared to be a large revolver. His hearing soon followed, and he could hear Mei yelling at the top of her lungs seemingly at nobody in an unfamiliar accent. " _What 'n the bloody blue blazes is wrong with you, you senile git!? Yes, he's a boy, the majority of his class is! NOT A FUCKING TERRORIST!"_

"Well _excuse me_ for testin' him out." The air shimmered as Akito materialized behind Izuku with a compound bow in one hand and a knife in the other with a condescending smirk of unremorseful humor. "Also, the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence, love. You know this as well as Nariko and I. And his situational awareness is better than I thought, by the way. Even with rubber bullets. Nice job, boy-o."

"Oh, for-he went through a background check before even setting foot on campus for classes! Like I did! And he was with me during my checkup when mum picked me up the other day! He's _fine!_ "

"…Huh. Sweet thing failed to mention that. Really?"

" _Yes._ "

"And this is the one you almost――"

" _Yes!_ Not every heterosexual male is lookin' to jam a hand up my skirt! Or mum's! Put the bow down or I'll put _you_ down!"

"Alright, alright, pipe down, Mei-by." The compound bow curled up on its own and he jammed the knife back into the sheath hanging from his chest, showing he had no other contraption in his hands. "Just wanted to see what I'm pitting your class against. Wasn't too worried, and I don't see much that'll change my mind. But…watch out for anyone who ends up on his side. And his bad side. Maybe."

"Um…..w-would it be alright if I get some clarity on the situation?" Izuku asked, his adrenaline subsiding and collapsing his shield back into the gauntlet. "You are…..her father, correct?"

"Where'd you think she gets the eyes, hair, and half the brains from? Name's Akito Hatsume. And you are…..Izuku Midoriya, the analytical savant of anything hero-related?"

Izuku began flailing his arms around widely in a hodgepodge of embarrassment and fear as his mouth began to run. "S-sav-I'm-I wouldn't go so far as to be a _savant_ , it's just…..something I've considered a point of interest since I was smaller and that kept expanding on and now I'm branching out into studying how to maintain and possibly develop some support items, though my main function is designing rather than actually crafting."

"I see. Well, I believe we'll be seeing each other a bit more for the next week. Looking forward to it. And I'm sorry for the surprise attack. I hope I didn't hurt you too much."

"Dangerously close, but I'll be fine. A little tinnitus never hurt anybody. Shows me I've still got leagues of work ahead of me."

Akito chuckled at that. "Good man. See you tomorrow."

* * *

Mei had her arms crossed, staring in any direction but her father during the whole ride in the side car of his BMW, maintaining her silence until she reached the front door of her secondary residence. Her mother had just closed the hood of the car as they pulled up to the garage, the drone appendages packing away the tools as she wiped a bead of sweat off her face. "Nariko, I'm home."

"Hey, babe. Welcome back." Wrenching the helmet off his head, her lips latched onto his before pulling away and nuzzling his face. "Thank you for coming back to us in one piece."

"Thank you for keeping our home safe." Re-positioning his wife's glasses, Akito planted another kiss on her nose, to which she responded with a giggle and a light, playful slap to his chest.

"Mei, you look….grumpy."

"He shot my friend." And it hasn't been that long since she almost took _his_ eye. She had every right to be angry.

Nariko's endearing look immediately shifted into a frown. "Is this true?"

"I shot _towards_ him, not _at_ him. He dodged most of them either way. Besides, they're less lethal ammunition and I aimed below the shoulders. If I wanted to hit him, I would've on the second if not the first shot. He had a collapsible shield, which I honestly wasn't expecting."

"You still tried to shoot him." Mei repeated indignantly.

"Which friend are we talking about?" Nariko asked.

"Freckles, green poofy hair."

"Oh _him?_ " She smiled, shrugging. "Never mind then."

"What!?"

"Mei-by, if he can take an _explosion_ , he can take a _bullet_. Plus, he had a shield. Bruises and welts aside, he'll be fine. Breakfast will be served for dinner by the way."

"Oh my dear, sweet Nariko, what would I do without you?" Sweeping his wife off her feet, Akito walked back into the house.

"Work and not much else. And go take a shower, please?"

"Will you make pancakes if I do?"

"With choco――" They were already through the front door before she could finish the sentence.

"You….you two are unbelievable." As much as she was angry about her father trying to shoot Izuku, chocolate chip pancakes _did_ sound enticing. Fishing her phone out of her pocket with a sigh, she called Izuku, who picked up before the third ring.

 _"Hello?"_

Her phone almost slipped out of her hands with the sweat. "H-hey, um…..it's….it's me."

 _"Mario?"_ Mei guffawed at that. _"Sorry, i-it was….it was a dumb joke. Thanks for laughing though. Something wrong?"_

"No no, just…..I'm just checking in to see if you're okay. My dad tends to not pull punches when it comes to combat situations."

 _"I figured as much,"_ Izuku chuckled. _"Your dad is, uh…..I can see the family resemblance. And where you get the brains from."_

"Thanks. I'm sorry about what happened. I'm his only child, so….. a father with a daughter, you know how it can get."

 _"I guess. One more thing, i-if I may?"_

"Yeah?"

 _"Before I knew that was your dad, the way the text was phrased, I honestly thought that….that someone had abducted you. It happened before during the summer bootcamp, and just entertaining the worst case scenario_ _――_ _it scared me. That you might…..that you might have be taken too. Or even died."_

"I'm sorry," Mei whispered, feeling her heart being wrenched out of her chest. "I….he didn't mean to hurt you. Not like that." A rather uncomfortable and heavy silence fell between them. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for him to hang up. Or better yet, go on a tirade. At least that would give her some closure. She could then distance herself and wouldn't have to risk hurting him. Again.

 _"S-so, uh, on-on a separate note, I noticed you had a-an interesting accent at the TDL."_

"What? Oh, I-y-you heard that?" Mei let out a nervous, dry laugh, surprised by the sudden shift in subject. "My dad and I are originally from Kyoto. Mom insisted on being able to switch between one and another, as you can tell."

 _"I….I actually kinda like it. No-not in a weird way or anything!"_ He added quickly. _"It's new, and…..I-I dunno. It jus-I like how it sounds when you use it."_

"Thanks…." She mumbled. "So….I….we'll see each other again tomorrow, I guess?" Maybe. Hopefully. If her face hadn't melted off from the heat.

 _"Yeah. See you tomorrow."_ As the line disconnected, Mei buried her face in her hands, squealing into them as her cheeks turned a shade of pink deeper than her hair, her heart aching with each throb. He likes the Kyoto accent. The Kyoto accent spoken in _her_ voice. It was a variant of a corny line, and it didn't take away the corniness by any stretch of the imagination, but God dammit, _it was working!_ And he probably doesn't even know or realizes he was passive-aggressively hitting on her.

Mei only knew because her father would shamelessly flirt with her mother whenever and wherever he felt like it. She'd take it in stride, sometimes brushing him off, but it was clear she enjoyed the attention and affection since she _leered at him_ every now and then. And why else would she permit herself to quite literally _eat_ out of his hand?

* * *

Izuku screamed into his pillow as he flipped and flopped around in utter mortification. He must have sounded like a sleaze, an utter _fool!_ Kaminari attempted to placate him, though he was too busy catching his breath from all the laughing the conversation caused. "Dude, Midoriya, you silver tongued player, you! You were _totally_ hitting on her just now. So naturally too! I-I don't even want to imagine the headwind you'd make in relationships once you gain a bit of confidence!"

"You….are not….helping." Izuku mumbled through the pillow coherently enough to be understood. First ogling her in public, the lucid wet dream, and now _this_. It felt so _wrong_ , seeing her as an object of desire.

"Midoriya, allow me to give you a piece of advice: teenage the fuck up. You're a hormone-addled teenager, like me and many of the other guys in this world. Maybe more so considering what we're trying to become. You're _allowed_ to be selfish and put yourself before others, granted it's not for anything illegal or immoral."

"I-I know _that._ I just…..have a hard time figuring out what I want for myself." And more importantly, whether he _should_ want it. Sure, he had friends _now_ since he got into UA, but it was because he had One For All then. He could never shake the thought that maybe, just maybe, his friendships were predicated on the fact that he even _had_ a Quirk in the first place. Hell, even his own flesh and blood didn't believe he could be a hero without a Quirk. It was well-warranted, but that fact still remained.

"Dude. Dude, Midoriya. You alright man?"

"Hm? O-oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm-yes, I'm okay…..I think."

"I beg to differ. You just…..you had a _very_ scary face on just now. Like, not angry-scary, but unsettling-scary."

"Really? That bad?"

"I'm no psychoanalyst, but yeah. You looked like you were contemplating either shoving someone off the rooftop or jumping off it yourself."

"Damn," Izuku muttered, a dry laugh escaping his lips. "Guess I'm not sleeping enough then." Standing up, he left his room to go to the bathroom while Kaminari decided to turn in for the night as well. Izuku stared into the mirror, and it seemed like for the first time in his life, his brain and the nerves connecting to the corners of his mouth were malfunctioning.

For the first time in his life, he found smiling to be…..challenging.


End file.
